Nigel Adkins positive despite Southampton defeat

Southampton manager Nigel Adkins was able to take plenty of positives from his side's performance, despite going down 2-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Goals from Gareth Bale and Clint Dempsey at St Mary's condemned the newly-promoted Saints to their seventh loss of the season.

"The second half was what we wanted in the first half," Adkins told Sky Sports News.

"We had the sucker punch of the two goals we conceded, which were poor ones from our point of view. In the second half we had them on the rack but ran out of time.

"We totally dominated the second half and pinned Tottenham back. It was more of a cup tie and we had a high energy."

Sunday's result has left Southampton in 19th place in the Premier League table.