Captain Ashley Williams hailed Swansea's defensive resolve as they claimed a shock 1-0 win over Saints at St Mary's.

Jonjo Shelvey's superb 83rd-minute strike settled a tie which had looked destined to be goalless as both teams struggled to break down stubborn defences.

“For the full 90 the team worked so hard to get that clean sheet,” Williams said.

“Jonjo took the geezer on and it's a brilliant strike so it's perfect. As a centre-half, you love a clean sheet.

“We've got a lot of injuries at the minute and a few new guys coming in but you saw the commitment, the work-rate, the way we wanted to play the game.

“We deserved the points.”

Swansea had arrived at St Mary’s without a league win in four games and on the back of a 3-1 FA Cup upset at lower division Blackburn.

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Saints, in contrast, had not lost a league game since December 13.

Williams added: "We needed it. It's a tough place to come - they're a very good side.

“We needed to stick with it for the 90 minutes and when you've had a little bit of a wobble you need something like that to really get you back on track."

Shelvey felt the Swans grew into the encounter after Saints had dominated the early proceedings without ever really creating clear cut chances.

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“We started off a bit shaky - they had a lot of possession - but in the second half we grew in confidence, started getting the ball down and playing and obviously it has paid off."

Swans manager Garry Monk felt his team were full value for their win and echoed Williams' sentiments about the endeavour of his troops.

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“We deserved it,” he said. “Tactically we had a good game plan and we stuck to it.

“Yes there was going to be moments where we had to defend and put bodies on the line but overall we frustrated them and when we had our chances we took them.

“All in all, the three points we can be happy with. We're back on track.

“The performance overall, from everyone, we were very very good."