Puel hails 'great performance'

Cape Town - Claude Puel said his side put in a "great performance" while Charlie Austin was delighted with his goals, as Southampton defeated Sparta Prague 3-0 on Thursday night.

Austin had opened the scoring with a fifth-minute penalty before adding a second with a well-taken header as Jay Rodriguez bagged a third deep into injury time.

After the match, a beaming Puel hailed his victorious side on the club's official website. He said: "I think it was a great performance.

"We played a very good team, with technical players, but the penalty at the beginning of the game was good for us, and we also had good organisation, then after we could score also another goal."

Southampton have conceded a penalty in each of their last three games, but were on the receiving end this time as Costa Nhamoinesu was penalised for handling inside the box.

He added: "I am happy to have a penalty for us, because in the first four games of the season to have three penalties against us is very hard for my team and my players.

"It was important for Charlie. Shane [Long] made a very good game also, and all the offensive players. But I think for all the team this result and this performance is very, very important."

Puel was also pleased with the way his team reacted after making seven changes.

"It's very interesting, because we changed the team a little bit for the start of this game, and I am happy for all the squad, because they can see many good players.

"It's important to give chances to all the players. We have young, international players and it is interesting to see them in these conditions and they produced a very good game tonight, and this shows we can travel for the future.

"But, for now, it is important to stay concentrated on the next game against Swansea, which will be very difficult, because the players must play another game after just two days off following this game."

Austin described his delight at having helped his side get their Europa League campaign underway.

He said: "I’m very pleased. We knew we didn’t have the strongest of starts to the season, but look, we knew we needed to get a win and it didn’t matter how it came, but our team performance was second to none out there.

"We felt if we kept playing the results would come and it did tonight."