Southampton forward, Adam Armstrong, acknowledged “the lads knew what we did wrong” after SAINTS and Middlesbrough drew 1-1, but insisted it was not a wasted chance.
After Armstrong gave Southampton the lead on minute twelve, Emmanuel Latte Lath scored a header in the closing seconds to significantly damage Southampton’s promotion hopes.
His equalizer came after Saints missed multiple opportunities to extend their lead, including two close-range misses by Che Adams and an attempted five-yard shot by Armstrong.
Russell Martin’s team was unable to completely take advantage of Leeds United and Leicester City’s point losses earlier in the day due to the draw.
Saints are now ten points behind Ipswich Town, the top team in the league, and nine points behind Leeds, who hold the crucial second position.
Asked if Friday’s draw was a missed opportunity, Armstrong said: “No, I don’t think so. It’s one of those games. “We had enough opportunities to win the game. We conceded a sloppy goal at the end. We have to take the point and move on to Monday.
“If you don’t score you don’t win. It’s as simple as that. The lads know what we did wrong and what we could have done better. We have got to go again on Monday. “Leicester dropping points wasn’t spoken about too much. We knew we had to focus on ourselves.”
He continued: “That is what we have been doing all season. When we dropped points at the start of the campaign we always focused on ourselves. “We don’t care where we are in the league.
All that matters is where we are in the table come May 5th. “We need to keep positive. We didn’t lose, it would have been a lot worse if we did. We have to take the positives out of it.”
This season, Michael Carrick’s Boro has secured four points against Southampton in addition to winning both games against Leicester.
Armstrong took advantage of a careless clearance by Jonny Howson to open the score at St Mary’s, drilling a low shot past Seny Dieng.
“I saw it come over, I took a nice touch and put it away nicely,”
Armstrong explained, reflecting on his 19th goal of the season.
“We started off well and looked bright but we couldn’t go on from there. We needed to punish them more.
“As long as my goals keep helping that is a bonus. At the end of the day, it’s the three points that we needed. “We are not stupid, we have nine massive games to come now. There will be changes in the league. It’s going to be interesting.”
Easter Monday at Portman Road will see Southampton take on an Ipswich team that has only lost one of their previous ten games.