Hughes gets a kick out of Saints’ win
Mark Hughes believes he has seen important traits in Southampton to take with them into a Premier League relegation battle after his new side defeated Wigan 2-0 to reach the FA Cup semi-finals.
After the League One side dominated the first half, Saints stepped up their level after the break and scored through Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Cedric Soares, while Manolo Gabbiadini also had a penalty brilliantly saved by Christian Walton.
Before Hughes can think about Wembley, he must try to turn around Saints’ form in the league, where they have won just once in the last 17 games and sit two points from safety.
The ex-Stoke boss said: “This was an important fixture. Clearly our Premier League status is a huge concern to us and we want to retain that and that is a big part of the remit I have. It was a game we could take the maximum we needed in terms of positivity and we’ve been able to do that. “We had to show a lot of the qualities and traitsagoodteam has to show on a regular basis and maybe that hasn’t been sustained prior to me coming to the club. “In the short time I’ve been with them, I have seen good quality, good application and a group of players who have maybe been a little bit hurt by criticism. I think maybe you saw steps to address that criticism.
“I have the utmost respect for Paul (Cook) and his team. I thought they were excellent.
“We knew they would test us. I just felt we made good decisions, certainly in the second half. Getting in front was important for us. We could have made it more comprehensive but that would have been hard on them. We are delighted.”