SAINTS 2 - ASTON VILLA 0

Glenn Hoddle paid glowing tribute to the character of his his Saints players as they bounced back from their seven-goal crushing to end Aston Villa's 12-game unbeaten Premiership run.

The 2-0 win completed a league double over John Gregory's side and was sweet revenge for the two woeful cup exits at Villa Park this season.

And Hoddle noticed an extra edge of determination in the players to make amends to the fans in the wake of those abject cup displays and the previous week's 7-2 collapse at Spurs.

He said: "We have done a lot of hard work on the training ground particularly in defence and the boys went out and implemented it.

"We have given a really solid performance. It wasn't classical and we have moved the ball better and lost but we defended very well and it was very gratifying to get a clean sheet.

"I was delighted with the players' attitude all week. We studied the video of the Spurs game and we handed them four of the seven goals on a plate with really sloppy defending and we had to nullify that.

"We studied the history books and realised that this team has usually bounced back immediately after a big defeat and it was nice to see it happen again.

"It has been a good weekend for us with other results going our way. We now have a seven-point gap which is invaluble to us.

"We have a tough one now away to Chelsea but we go there under less pressure than we would if we had come unstuck against Villa."

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