Alan Pardew was pleased that his side achieved what they set out to do at Northampton.

A late penalty took the gloss off a solid display in the F.A Cup second round tie at Sixfields which Saints controlled large portions of, and the key part was to be in the hat for the next round according to the manager.

"Forget about the scorleine, the most important thing in the Cup is getting through," he said afterwards. "There's no replay, we did it in one hit and away from home we'd take that against any opposition.

"Unfortunately we conceded a goal which was a goal I think we should have prevented, but by then really the game was over if I'm honest at 3-1.

"I thought we'd see the game out and that would be it but a ball came in the box, a hand was stuck out and they got a penalty which flattered the scoreline a little bit. I thought it was a 3-1 game in my opinion.

"At times we looked a technical team but they matched us up with real effort and endeavour. They had a real threat from long throws and kept bombing it in our box and we defended them great."

Pardew praised the performances of the more senior members of his side who came into the side and helped Saints shut the game out in their favour.

"You can't do anything at a football club without senior players respecting and showing discipline that the manager sets in place. If they don't agree with it, if they think its wrong and don't abide by what the manager wants to do then your manager has got no chance. They've all bought in to what I want here.

"Some of them, like Chris Perry haven't played for a long while, but he showed a brilliant attitude and the young players are learning many things off them.

"I just thought we had a good attitude to the game," he added. "It was a game that was dangerous for us because Northampton at home were going to give it a real blast and first half we did the job.

"Second half there were a couple of little incidents we could have done a little bit better with in an attacking way with the formation but generally I was pleased with the team. We were committed to the tie and the fans will have gone home happy."

The draw for the third round of the competition takes place on Sunday and the Saints manager would like to keep the run in the competition going.

"A Cup run is good for our spirit. We've been a long time at Southampton with a losing year and this is the first time we've got a winning year, so any game we win is very, very important to our mentality - not just the team but the club, the fans, everybody.

"We've won two games in this competition and two or three in the other cup competition so it's good for us.

"It would be nice for our fans to get something to cheer about in terms of one of the bigger sides to come down. We could progress in this competition with a good draw, but if I could choose I'd prefer a kind draw at home."