Martin: Southampton building up belief after earning first away point

Russell Martin believes Southampton have been building up their belief in recent weeks, which helped them earn a 1-1 draw with south coast rivals Brighton on Friday.

Flynn Downes scored his maiden Premier League goal to cancel out Kaoru Mitoma's first-half header to earn the Saints a first away point of the season.

They could have taken home all three points, but Cameron Archer's goal was disallowed for offside as Adam Armstrong was judged to have interfered with play from an offside position in the build-up.

Southampton remain bottom of the table, four points behind Wolves in 17th, but ended a run of nine straight Premier League away defeats.

"I liked a lot of it. I think we have been better than that and not got a point," Martin told BBC Sport.

"The second half I really liked. First half: a lack of conviction and aggression in certain moments. They responded brilliantly. Good performance against a good team.

"[Downes' goal was a] brilliant finish. A really good move from back to front. I liked the courage. We need to keep turning the screw. If they keep giving us everything, the results will change.

"They have been creeping up with belief. We've had a difficult level of opponent. We were excellent and went toe-to-toe with a team who have gone second."

Take a point. Deserved more. UTS

— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) November 29, 2024

Brighton sit second in the table after that result, at least temporarily ahead of the rest of the weekend's fixtures.

The Seagulls have failed to win five of the last 10 home league games where they scored the opening goal (D5), after winning each of the last nine before that.

However, Fabian Hurzeler is the first manager to avoid defeat in each of his first seven home games in the Premier League (W3 D4) since Maurizio Sarri with Chelsea in 2018-19.

The German was left frustrated, however, as his side failed to take a slew of good opportunities in the opening period.

"It was not the best game from us regarding our intensity and positional game," he told Sky Sports. "We only deserve the result like this.

"We should have finished the game in the first half, but we didn't and then we got punished.

"We had to make some changes, and we tried to get an impact on the game. We have to keep working, and it's a process, it takes time, and we have to improve for the next game.

"You have to focus on the small details if you want to win in the Premier League. We should see what the reality is. The reality is we have a lot of hard work to do."