Alan Pardew has praised the impact his team has had on regaining the pride in Southampton.

Confirmation that Saints will be playing League One football arrived shortly after a 3-2 win over Carlisle, but the manager paid tribute to the effort from everyone at the Club for their efforts on and off the pitch this season.

"I think the most important thing is that we have given belief to the fans and belief to the town," he told Saints Player. "The Chairman is not just wanting to invest in the Club but the City, which has been done. We support local businesses, we support the community and not only have we performed on the pitch, we have performed well off it.

"There have been incidents here in the past but we have had none of those this year, and it's those sort of examples we need to set as a group of players and as a Club to the town, and we all go forward together.

"I actually feel for the players more than anybody today, because I think their efforts deserve better. It's been a bit of a freak season in terms of the play-offs point total and we find ourselves out of it with two games to go when most of the teams are on 77 points.

"It's tough on them because it has been a tremendous effort from everyone at the Club, not just the players, the fans and everyone that works here. We're disappointed in the dressing room, we knew that we had to do our job today and at times we were a class above, which we can be. We therefore have to finish strongly, we can still win 24 games and that is what we want to do, and then get ourselves ready for what will be a different sort of campaign next year. We start on an even keel with everyone else with a strong group and we need to win the league.

"This year is not just about promotion, it's about building an organisation that is going to have such roots that it has sustained success. The appointment of Les Reed is part of that, the updating of the training, the stadium being renovated, and our scouting improving immensely which we will do over the summer.

"The point is that you have to build a Club with strong roots and probably another season in this division isn't the worst thing. It would have been great to get into the Championship, but another season of winning season and believing that you are the best can take you a long way when you get promoted. We have seen that over the years, teams can jump through two divisions in two years if the roots are right."

The victory over Carlisle was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests and the gaffer was delighted to repay the home supporters for their efforts.

"As I said before the game, our fans were important today. The fans were absolutely brilliant and they were the best player on the pitch for us in the first half. In the second half we showed the quality that we have, we could have perhaps had a few more and got a bit sloppy at the end to concede a goal, because the scoreline flatters them in my opinion."