POORTVLIET HAILS SOUTHAMPTON

Poortvliet - hails Southampton.

Southampton manager Jan Poortvliet hailed the battling spirit of his players after they recorded their second Championship victory of the season with a 2-0 win over Doncaster.

The Saints had been on the back foot for the majority of the first half as Rovers created the better chances and were unlucky to go into the break goalless.

But Poortvliet's side were much sharper after the interval and ran out winners after Matt Mills' 50th-minute own-goal and an Andrew Surman penalty eight minutes later.

"It was a good win because we had a weak start to the game and I asked for passion from my players and today it showed," Poortvliet said.

"In the Carling Cup defeat to Rotherham we lacked that passion, the will to win, and the will to be a team.

"But today it was a really good team performance, maybe not in the way we played football, but definitely in the way we played for each other.

"We had a difficult time in the first half and this is a young team and when some things happen they need to calm down.

"Today they did that and they showed great spirit in the second half and I think we worked hard until the end, helping each other.

"At half-time I told the players to break quickly because when we do that we look like we are going to score.

"So I am very happy with the result and it will give us a lot of confidence into the next few games."

Southampton had begun the second half the livelier of the two teams and were ahead five minutes after the break following good work down the right flank by David McGoldrick.

A crossfield ball found the pacey striker and his run into the box culminated with a low goal-bound shot from a narrow angle which former Saints trainee Mills deflected past Neil Sullivan and into the net.

The Saints doubled their advantage from the penalty spot in the 58th minute after Adam Lallana was brought down by Richie Wellens.

Surman stepped up to take the resulting spot kick and calmly sent Sullivan the wrong way after he placed the ball into bottom right corner of the net.

Surman then won a second penalty in the 79th minute after he had got on the end of a superb Lallana through-ball before he was scythed down by Rovers defender Sam Hird.

The midfielder again opted for the bottom right corner but this time experienced keeper Sullivan guessed correctly and saved the shot.

Rovers boss Sean O'Driscoll admitted his side need to gain composure when they go behind and disputed Southampton's first penalty.

He said: "I thought we started really brightly and in the first half looked like we were going to score. If we could have got the first goal I think it could have changed the game.

"In the second half we held them off for five minutes and perhaps we were a bit gung-ho and if you throw caution to the wind teams are set up to counter-attack and defend.

"Perhaps we lost our discipline after the first goal and ended up being 2-0 down and that's something we need to learn from. Once we'd calmed down and got our shape back we were probably the dominant force.

"The first penalty was harsh and having had a quick look at the DVD after the game I think the referee's position he had no angle on the tackle and it looks like it was a bit of a guess."