Long thanks Hasenhuttl for keeping faith and says: Things are looking up

SHANE LONG was thinking about changing his name to How Long before Ralph Hasenhuttl breezed into town.

The Austrian boss really must have questioned whether he had time to play the Long game at all at struggling Southampton. The Irish striker went into this game looking for his first goal of the season having not scored since April – 279 days ago.

Even so, Long has featured in six of the seven matches since Hasenhuttl took over – and his

patience was finally rewarded. Long scored a killer goal on half-time, immediately after Saints had been reduced to 10 men following Yan Valery’s stupid dismissal.

Astonishingly, his last four goals for the club have come under four different managers: Claude Puel, Mauricio Pellegrino, Mark Hughes and now Hasenhuttl.

It was Long who had been brought down for the penalty which James Ward-Prowse blasted home.

Long then struck what proved to be the killer blow.

Leicester got one back through Wilfred Ndidi and though they threw everything at Saints in a one-sided second half, couldn’t salvage a point.

That’s 10 points from seven games for the new gaffer, before he arrived Saints had nine from 15.

Long said: “There was a lot of pressure on me going into the game but the gaffer has shown me a lot of

confidence. It is hard work, especially when you go down to 10 men.

“Everybody has got on board with the way the manager wants to do it and it’s working on the pitch.

“We’ve got games coming up we can get three points from. We can start looking up instead of down.

“It’s not going to be easy but we are fully confident in our ability to get out of trouble.”

Leicester huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow the house down sparking even more abuse of boss Puel who looks to be fighting a losing battle with the fans.

Defender Harry Maguire believes the terrace tension is seeping onto the pitch, saying: “The frustration comes from our performances at home, which against the bottom eight haven’t been good enough.

“Southampton didn’t create a chance or have a shot. We gave them two goals through errors.”