'Chuffed' Graham Alexander gives instant reaction to Preston win over Southampton
Preston defeated Southampton 1-0 on Saturday night.
Graham Alexander says he feels ‘relief’ after getting his first Preston North End win at the seventh attempt against Southampton.
Preston defeated promotion-hopefuls Southampton 1-0 at Deepdale, Jordan Thompson smashing in a sensational winner on the volley.
North End were fantastic in the first-half, attacking with real quality and creating several good chances, while in the second half they were forced to defend for their lives. Amongst growing pressure they held firm, Lee Nicholls making a string of strong saves.
When asked how he was feeling after finally getting three points, Alexander told BBC Radio Lancashire: “Relief. Chuffed for the players. I think they deserved it.
“I know it's not always been apparent but they have worked hard. They're trying to believe in what we're trying to do but you need the validation of performances and results to get that confidence and I think today will give us that going into the working week now going forward.
“We've got two weeks now to work more of the same. Continuing what we've done this week. But I'm so pleased for the players, so pleased for the supporters because Deepdale was amazing today as it has been in a couple of games before. The West Brom game we drew.
“There was a lot of appreciation for our second half the other night, we threw the game away really with poor goals. So everyone deserves a little bit of light relief this weekend, maybe a pint, but there's plenty of work for us to do.”
Alexander praises Preston’s first half attacking display
It was the first half performance that won the game for North End and left Alexander delighted with how his side took the game to a talented outfit. Thompson’s ‘brilliant’ goal being the cherry on top.
“I think we should have took the lead a couple of times before that, to be fair,” he said.
“I thought we was superb in the first half. That was the sort of performance we're trying to generate from the off.
“Go up against any opponent and don't take a step backwards. I think we've had seven games in our time here and four of them have been against top seven, that's a tough ask.
“We drew with West Brom here, should have won. We've beaten Southampton today. So there's life still in us. There's quality in there.”
Alexander also drew a comparison to the display with some of Preston’s recent defeats under him.
He continued: “But we've got understand how the game works and we've got to earn that right by hard yards, by engaging the opponent.
“I think sometimes we get a little bit stand-off-ish, thinking we're doing okay by getting behind the ball. But we're letting good players pick any pass they want. At this level, they're going to do that.
“We have to get into the final yard. I said on Tuesday the game was in the final yard, all I saw in the first-half was a complete team committed going getting the ball back.
“We had some really good chances and the strike from JT was a brilliant strike. I'm so pleased it turned out to be a winner.”