Mauricio Pellegrino was delighted with the character shown by his side as Saints put their Carabao Cup humbling against Wolves behind them to fight out an entertaining goalless draw at Huddersfield.

Saints had to dig deep to contain the Terriers, who are flying high in a honeymoon period after their promotion, and then started to dominate in the second half.

They almost won it as Ryan Bertrand had a header cleared off the line in stoppage time, but going into the international break Saints are unbeaten in the Premier League with a win and two draws in the top flight.

Pellegrino said: “It was a really tough game from the beginning.

“Huddersfield right now is a team with a really high mentality, they are really strong in second balls and long balls in aerial play with big players and some deliveries from three-quarters.

“They create some problems and at the same time in the first half we have two chances clear to score and in the second half, especially when we had the ball, we were better than them, and we had three or four chances to win the game.

“We could win, we could lose, maybe, but it was a really tough.

“The best thing for us was we showed great character for 90 minutes and we got one point and we have to keep going.”

Pellegrino helped his side get control with tactical changes at the break and revealed: “I move a little bit higher Mario (Lemina) and Steven (Davis) and I put Oriol (Romeu) close to the centre backs to help a little bit in aerial play. I think we were better.

“After I change again because I see some players a little bit tired to put fresh people, fresh legs, and I think we finished better than them.

“The best news is we can compete in a tough game, we can control the opponent when we manage the ball, and in the first three games I think we deserve to win the first two. This was really tough but we could win, we could also lose. Typical Premier League game.”