Hughes keen to improve form at St Mary’s
Mark Hughes feared surrendering a twogoal lead in last season’s home defeat to Chelsea had dealt a “mortal blow” to Southampton’s hopes of Premier League survival. Struggling Saints were cruising towards a valuable victory in April, before a late capitulation saw them concede three times in the final 20 minutes. The 3-2 loss left the southcoast club five points from safety with five games to play. Chelsea return to St Mary’s today and Southampton boss Hughes now believes the setback gave his players the necessary belief to avoid relegation. “It was huge disappointment at the time, because it was a significant game at the time, we’d got ourselves in a winning position,” he said. “We were in a predicament at the bottom of the table and we needed every point that we could get. “It was a feeling that it would maybe be a mortal blow, but actually it galvanised us and from that point onwards we felt we’ve just gone up against a very good Chelsea team and should have beaten them. “We weren’t able to, but the confidence that we took from performing as well as we did against them helped us in the games we faced from then until the end of the season. “There’s no doubt whatsoever in my mind that, even though we might have won the game, we would have got the same kind of reaction from that game in terms of positivity because we needed to convince ourselves that we were a good team and I think we did on that day.” Saints have a dreadful recent record in front of their own fans, winning just four of their past 27 League fixtures at St Mary’s. Hughes admits the home form must improve to avoid a repeat of the problems experienced during the last campaign. However, the Welshman – who has won one of six home matches since replacing the sacked Mauricio Pellegrino in March – feels it is unfair to judge his personal record too harshly. “We haven’t won too many home games in my time, but I think it needs to be mitigated a little bit because we forever seem to be on the road,” he said.