Pellegrino happy with ‘positive’ point
Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino was positive after his side’s 2-2 draw against Newcastle, as reported by BBC Sport.
The Saints were held at home by the Magpies having gone behind on two occasions. Newcastle took the lead through Isaac Hayden, before a chaotic second half sprung the game into action.
Manolo Gabbiadini notched after some lovely work on the right, before Ayoze Perez fired under two minutes later. Gabbiadini converted a penalty to snatch a point for Saints.
The reaction was good at the end, our best 20 minutes. In defence we were good and compact. At the same time we couldn’t control too much the second goal.
We knew it would be difficult to penetrate them. You have to be balanced and move them. Maybe with two strikers we had to deliver a little bit earlier.
Pellegrino demanded that his side picked up a result against the Magpies and delivered just a point, much to the frustration of the Southampton fans.
The draw takes Saints up to 10th, helping them out of the bottom half of the table with West Brom still to play their game on Monday.
The fans were behind us, pushing our team, at the end we had our best moment. We never controlled the game totally. I knew it would be difficult, but one point is a positive.
Pellegrino will hope to break this run without a win next week, when Saints welcome West Brom to St Mary’s in what promises to be a difficult encounter.