Alan Pardew could not help feeling disheartened after seeing Saints only take a draw against Leyton Orient.
The manager felt that his side did enough to win the game but a combination of some hurried play and meeting a goalkeeper in good form, thwarted the chances of a win.
"It was frustrating really, and at times I think we played frustrated," he said. "It was disappointing because we had such a good start to the game and we probably played as well as we have ever played. We should have scored a couple, and the goalie was terrific in that spell, but we got the goal and then almost immediately gifted them a goal. From that moment on we were never quite the same, and although we still carved out some really good opportunities that we should have taken, Lee Barnard was really unlucky today not to have scored.
"I had to think of changes to try and unlock what is going to be a scenario many, many times. The only thing that disappointed me today was a lack of push from the team as a unit, there were certainly individuals pushing to get the goal, but not enough as a team, and I mentioned that to them afterwards. If you are going to be a champion, or you have aspirations to be one you have to push right to the last minute. We were fine, 1-1 with twenty minutes to go at home, but we have got to win that one.
"We still had a couple of great chances in the second half, and a brilliant save again from Lee Barnard, and Dan Harding had a great chance at the far post. We have to accept that every team who comes here is going to set up very similar, some of our play here today within the group, there were three or four who were below par. Some senior players needed to step to the fore and they didn't do that."
The goal Saints conceded arrived not long after Rickie Lambert put them one up, and Pardew revealed that the manner of the equaliser took its toll on the Liverpudlian
"I thought it was a really poor goal, and I thought it knocked Rickie too, because it was his man who scored and from then on he never really looked the same. He is a conscientious boy and I think it affected him today.
"It looked like it was his first game. I wasn't sure on taking Rickie off and putting Connolly and Barnard up front together, the way we were playing you aren't going to create anything and having the big man on, one ball into the box could have been enough. I took a decision to keep him on, but Connolly looked good when he came on I thought, and Barnard was very unfortunate to be taken off.
"We have to be strong enough to handle pressure," the gaffer concluded. "We were last year when we had the same scenario, so nothing has changed really. Perhaps the fact that we have had this long layoff and a lot of pressure on us to get a win made the pressure just a little bit too much for us."
