SAINTS captain Jose Fonte reflected on a rare mistake during his landmark appearance for the club, admitting: “I should have put it in the stands.”

The Portugese defender’s weak pass gave two-goal Robin van Persie the chance to give United a 12th minute lead, before Saints fought back impressively but in vain.

Fonte, who made his 200th Saints appearance last night, said: “Obviously I’m disappointed with the back pass, I should have just put it in the stands and next time I need to do that.

“But then we got back in the game and I thought ‘this is it, we’ll go on and win it’. It’s a very frustrating night because they didn’t deserve to win.

“There are no moral victories, we played much better than them and controlled the game, especially in the first half.

“We created chances and it’s the best performance we’ve put in during the last few weeks.”

Steve Davis was similarly frustrated, following a similar story at Arsenal last week.

“We got punished for not taking our chances but in general we were probably the better side so it’s another hard one to take,” he said.

“Our organisation is something we pride ourselves on so the goals we gave away tonight were disappointing.

“But we’re not going to be too concerned, we know we’re capable of competing against these sides so that’s a positive to take from it.

“We deserved to be beaten by Man City but we’ve deserved to take something from the games against Arsenal and now United.

“We dominated the game, they didn’t cause too many problem but it’s fine lines at this level. They were clinical in front of goal.

After successive defeats against three of last season’s top four, Saints face a very different challenge this week at Burnley.

“It’s important we bounce back as quickly as possible and get a result on Saturday at Burnley,” continued Davis.

“There are no easy games in the Premier League, and we realise that, but we’re confident in our own ability.

“We need to get a bit of confidence going and get back on track.”