Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Hotel row can’t put Saints off
BOSS Mark Hughes felt the rumpus over Southampton’s cancelled Swansea hotel booking worked in their favour after the Saints had grabbed a Premier League lifeline.
Substitute Manolo Gabbiadini’s 72nd-minute winner secured Southampton a 1-0 victory at the Liberty Stadium, pushing Swansea closer to the Championship and relegating West Brom into the bargain.
It came after a bitter build-up to the match which saw Southampton forced to stay 35 miles away at the Vale of Glamorgan resort after their block booking in Swansea city centre was cancelled because of a “virus” at the Marriott Hotel.
Hughes had expressed his anger at the situation in a television interview before kick-off after the Southampton squad had completed the final 100 yards of the journey on foot to ensure they were not delayed entering the stadium.
Hughes said: “I’m not for one minute suggesting Swansea had anything to do with that.
“Maybe it was overzealous Swansea fans in positions to affect our hotel booking.
“But those things you can use to your own benefit as a motivating factor.
“We got held up a little bit outside as well because we were first here on the coach and apparently we were meant to wait for Swansea.
“But we weren’t going to do t hat. We were t oo focused, we got off the bus and walked the 100 yards into the ground.We weren’t going to be messed about.
“There is a little bit of a cushion but we are playing Man City and we have to be careful.”