Tilson: 'We made a real uphill struggle for ourselves'; Pardew: 'It was a great win'

Tilly: 'Mildy has said the player kicked it out of his hands'

Blues boss Steve Tilson felt defensive errors were the deciding factor in the 3-1 defeat to the Saints.

Tilly spoke to www.southendunited.co.uk after the game: "They were poor ones to give away and you can't afford to do that against a team like Southampton. I think they're a good team and we made it a real uphill struggle for ourselves. The effort was there and I can't fault the players on that front but the defending disappointed me."

As for the disputed Saints opener: "I need to see it again on the video before I comment. Mildy has said their player kicked it out of his hands and if that's the case then I won't be very happy."

Pardew: 'We stepped up a gear in the first half'

Meanwhile, Saints boss Alan Pardew feels a 3-2 last minute home defeat to high flying Bristol Rovers planted the seeds of what turned out to be his side's third successive win.

Pardew told www.saintsfc.co.uk: "We've been threatening before the Bristol game that we were going to do this. Maybe that game will turn out to be a turning point for us. It was a great win and a comfortable second half really. We stepped up a gear in the first half, got our goals and looked a good side in that period."

The former Charlton and West Ham manager was pleased with his teams defensive efforts.

Pardew continued: "I don't think that's a skill we've had all season. We've worked on certain aspects of what to do when you get your noses in front. When we've taken the lead, which we've done on many occasions this year, we've not been calm, we've not been disciplined enough to see it out, in the second half we did and I am very pleased with that."

And a final word for the fans who travelled from the south coast to see the Saints win their first away game of the season: "The fans were brilliant again and we've repaid the faith of a four of five hour trip made. It's been a long wait for this but I looked at the bench and things looked a lot different to how it did three or four weeks ago."