Southampton manager, Nigel Adkins has insisted that his side deserved to score more goals, during the Saints 1-1 draw against Bristol City in a pre-season friendly fixture on Tuesday.
The newly promoted Premier League side were forced on the back foot by the home side, after Jon Stead opened the scoring for Bristol in the 36th minute.
However, the lead was cancelled out by Billy Sharp, who came on as a substitute in the second half, to strike a stoppage time goal.
Despite the fact that his side trailed the host team for a major portion of the game, the Saints boss insisted that they were by far the better of the two teams on the day, and were unfortunate to score just a single goal throughout the game.
The 47-year old told the reporters in an interview, “We could have scored several goals but there is no divine right to have it all your own way…We have been working on a formation and I thought we were very assertive in that in the first half, which is
very pleasing. It is just a shame we didn't score in that period.”
After having denied the Southampton attackers time and again during the match, it seemed that the Championship outfit were all set to notch up their third successive win against Adkins’ men.
However, Sharp had other plans, as he planted home a header in the dying moments, to salvage a draw for his team. It was the striker’s fifth goal of the pre-season.
The Englishman was all praise for the player for his notable presence in the team, terming him a ‘top goal scorer’, and felt that he will hold the key to their chances of getting their league campaign off to a good start.
He then further added that even though their pre-season fixtures were nothing more than a preparatory exercise for them, they went about them with a winning approach, and claimed that they had met their desired targets.
“It's pre season and it's not about the results – it's about how we play, and we played with a very assertive 4-3-3 today.”
Southampton will play their 2012/13 season opener against the title holders, Manchester City on the 19th of August at the Etihad Stadium.
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