Saints boss Alan Pardew felt that his side showed the organised side of their game as they put in a strong performance against Gillingham.

Having put on another impressive creative display going forward, it was a case of doing the necessary jobs in order to see the game out which didn't happen in midweek.

"You have to make sure you have players who understand what the disciplines are about, you have to focus on that and we've done that today," he said.

"There was no tactical difference and the only things we'd worked on were in the midfield to make sure we didn't get exposed like we did on Tuesday night and we did that very well. It was in someway forced because Morgan Schneiderlin was injured and Paul Wotton has just done Morgan's role in a different way.

"After going six games unbeaten and looking like a decent side for us to get a defeat like that was a bit of a shock for everybody. But we've put that particular result to bed and now we need to move forward.

"We looked a powerful side and we need to make sure on and off the pitch we show the same discipline. That's the message I gave to the players.

"Today I felt there were a lot of similarities with the Bristol Rovers game in terms of the creative ability of our team. We looked brilliant in areas but you can't give the opposition opportunities so we tweaked things a little."

Pardew also paid tribute to the performance of striker Rickie Lambert, who the manager revealed had been doing extra work on his fitness since his arrival at the club.

"We've physically worked hard with him and he showed that," the manager explained. "He looked a better product than when he arrived here and he gave a centre forward performance that deserved a better stage - not in terms of Southampton but league position.

"He was excellent and we were solid throughout the team.

"We're now in the situation where we're focussing on playing, so that's our game plan. The disciplines are installed, so now game plans come to the fore and there are adjustments.

"We did that well and when we conceded the goal we just turned up the power and saw the game off."