Claude Puel pleased with Southampton reaction in defeat to Swansea City

Claude Puel has insisted that he is happy with the way Southampton ended their Premier League meeting with Swansea City, but concedes the response came too late to merit a point.

The Saints found a second-half leveller at the Liberty Stadium through a Shane Long strike - just the fourth touch of the ball for a visiting player inside the box.

Swansea, who had earlier taken a 38th-minute lead through Alfie Mawson, did enough to earn a 2-1 victory in the end thanks to a Gylfi Sigurdsson goal on the counter.

Despite rallying in the remainder of the match, coming close through a Sofiane Boufal shot and Maya Yoshida header, it was not to be as the visitors fell to successive defeats.

"It was good second half but perhaps it was too late," he told BBC Sport. "We cannot take a positive when you lose a game. All the players can have a recovery.

"It was not sufficient for us in the same half without a good concentration and application of our football. The second half was a good reaction, a good try but they played clinically tonight and have been rewarded."

Southampton find themselves 12th in the Premier League table, one point off the top half and eight points adrift of the relegation zone.