Alan Pardew felt that his side could do no more and were unfortunate to come away with a one sided looking scoreline.

The Saints manager saw his team match up to their Premier League opponents but they eventually succumbed to a defeat which looked worse than it was.

"I think it flattered them a little bit," Pardew stated. "We gave a really good account of ourselves in terms of the first sixty or seventy minutes and we kept it really tight, and that's what you need to do against a team like that with such speed and attacking flair.

"Unfortunately when we conceded the second goal we chased it naively somewhat and ended up with a scoreline that we didn't deserve. We had some fantastic performances, not least Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana who were both absolutely terrific for us, and on another day for us it could have been a very different scoreline.

"I think it can't go unnoticed that we have had a very emotional week, and I thought that in the last ten minutes we were treading water a bit against a very powerful team.

"I know our fans will probably be disappointed going home tonight, but I don't think they should be because our players gave everything and I know that it's not often this year we will face teams with that power and pace."

The visitors were lifted by their substitutions, but also had goalkeeper David James to thank for maintaining their advantage.

"He made some crucial blocks and saves. He's a big guy and he got himself in the way of a lot of our attacks, that first half we deserved to be leading and it was only David James that shut that out.

"I thought Quincy (Owusu-Abeyie) when he came on certainly livened up proceedings. We would have liked to lock him in a bit better than we did, but unfortunately he had a little bit more freedom than I would have liked, and he made it pay."

The gaffer believes that Saints will take a lot from the match which he hopes his side will take into their league campaign.

"We need to learn some lessons. In League One you can open up the game and chase it, but you can't chase against a team like them when they are in the Premier League and have pace and power on the break. We were exposed and that's a shame because our players' efforts didn't warrant that.

"We will now try and win as many league games as we can and try and make a situation where we try and get ourselves into that position of the playoffs."