Ronald Koeman insisted he was disappointed by the result but not the performance of his side as they were beaten 1-0 by Everton.

Saints slipped to the Goodison Park loss thanks to Phil Jagielka’s first half goal.

Koeman did try and shake things up in the second period but chances proved hard to come by as Saints suffered a first defeat in four.

Koeman said: “Yes of course disappointed, very disappointed, about the final result. Not disappointed about the performance of the team.

“I think we had a great start in the game, we had a good chance in the beginning of Pelle and I think it was a great save of the goalkeeper Howard at that moment.

“Unlucky to receive the 1-0 in the second situation about the corner kick but I think the reaction was good.

“A few chances in the first half, the chance of Prowsey, the free kick of Prowsey, and the second half maybe it was a little bit more difficult, they dropped a little bit more back, and I have to say that honestly they are playing out of very good organisation, they had a really strong defence and it was difficult to create good chances in the second half.

“We tried everything, we ended the game with four or five strikers, three at the back, to try everything at least to take one point out of this game but it wasn’t.”