Mark Hughes States His Southampton Side Have Teams Above Them 'Looking Over Their Shoulders'

Southampton manager Mark Hughes insists his Southampton side have relegation rivals looking over their shoulders following the Saints' 2-1 win against rivals

Southampton manager Mark Hughes insists his Southampton side have relegation rivals looking over their shoulders following the Saints' 2-1 win against rivals Bournemouth. 

Dusan Tadic's brace cancelled out Joshua King's goal to give Southampton a vital three points in their fight to avoid the drop. The result leaves them in 18th place, but they are now only one point away from 17th placed Swansea. 

Mike Hewitt/GettyImages

Speaking after the victory, Hughes stated via Sky Sports : "You could see the reaction from the crowd." 

"Everybody was behind the guys. There was a huge amount of endeavour, and plenty of skill too.

"It takes a huge amount of effort for the guys to get to a point in games where they can see games out. To get three points is massive.

"We need to have the teams above us looking over their shoulders, and this result does that for us. We need to pressure the ones above us too. They know we have quality here. Now we just need to keep the momentum from this huge result. If we carrying on playing like we did today, we will go close."

Dusan Tadic is the first Southampton player to be directly involved in 10+ goals this season across all competitions:

7 goals ⚽
4 assists 🅰

Vital, vital goals. pic.twitter.com/rHhivzhEAp

— Squawka (@Squawka) April 28, 2018

Talking about the importance of the win, Hughes admitted: "Everyone knew the circumstances coming into the game - we needed maximum points."

"Draws weren't good enough. It is only one part of what we need to do.

He continued: "It was a huge effort. There was a little bit of a worry around how the guys would react after conceding just before half time. We have been scarred by previous results, but, to a man they were magnificent.

"We dug in, got the lead back, and in the end, we were just throwing bodies at the ball. They threw everything at us. Huge result. It doesn't mean anything yet, but it could be hugely significant."

Southampton can claw themselves out of the bottom three next Saturday when they play Everton at Goodison Park.