Russell Martin feels Southampton have another gear to find at St Mary’s after his side drew 0-0 at West Brom in a cagey Championship play-off semi-final first leg.
Both teams were indebted to their goalkeepers for keeping the game level as Alex Palmer made an excellent reaction save with his feet to keep out Saints substitute Ross Stewart’s deflected effort and Alex McCarthy also made fine stops either side of the break to twice deny Baggies attacker Grady Diangana.
And despite feeling his side’s performance at the Hawthorns was far from perfect, Saints boss Martin feels they are well-placed to secure a spot in the final.
“We can play a lot better than that,” he said.
“It was hot, the pitch got stickier as the game went on because of the heat.
“It’s delicately poised. We have to win a game at home to get to Wembley.
“For us to avoid any real damage ahead of the home leg is important. We came to try and win but there’s some stuff we can definitely do a lot better and that’s the exciting thing for us.
“We definitely have another gear or two to click through with the ball.
“On the whole I’m fairly satisfied. Hopefully we’ll have Che (Adams) back. Any team is going to miss him.
“We need to prioritise what we really need to work on and cross our fingers and pray we’ve worked on the right things. There’s a lot of work to do.
“To get through a game in these conditions, I’m proud of them for that.”
West Brom boss Carlos Corberan believes his side has a great chance of playing at Wembley, where he suffered play-off final heartbreak with Huddersfield two seasons previously.
Corberan said: “It was very equal, very balanced, it was a very tough game, as you expect when four teams are fighting to go to the Premier League.
“Both teams created similar chances. It was a very equal game.
“We have four days to rest. Normally you have 15 minutes to prepare for the second half, we need to use the time to prepare the best way we can.
“I like how the team competed. We didn’t lose against Southampton in 90 minutes for the first time this season, it’s a positive step.
“We have a massive opportunity in front of us to go to Wembley.
“Now we need to analyse the details to improve and use our opportunities better and to use set pieces better because we had so many but we couldn’t score a goal.
“The challenge in the second leg is probably the strongest one we’ve faced all season. We need to use our past experiences to be mentally ready.”
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