JAY Rodriguez revealed he was touched by the reception he was given by the Saints supporters, as he made a goalscoring return to action at St Mary’s.

The forward rifled in a stunning late equaliser against Espanyol, in his first appearance on home turf since March 2014.

His 85th-minute thunderbolt cancelled out Salva Sevilla’s first-half opener, as Ronald Koeman’s side concluded their pre-season fixtures with a 1-1 draw against the Spanish club.

“It was a great feeling,” said the 26-year-old, who has overcome the serious knee injury that kept him out for more than a year.

“It’s important for myself to get that feeling back of scoring and every goal means a lot to me.

“It was a nice way to level the game up and we were just a bit gutted that we never won.”

Rodriguez added: “The main focus was hit it clean, hit the target, and lucky for me it went in. I was really happy with it.”

After nearly 15 months since he last played at St Mary’s, Rodriguez explained that it had been a special moment for him to run out onto the pitch again, and he thanked the club’s fans for the welcome they gave him.

“It was really nice,” he said. “Obviously, the fans gave me a really nice reception. It means a lot to me.

“To walk out at St Mary’s - you know, I’ve had a lot of great games, obviously a lot of tough games there, and it means a lot to myself to walk out there, so it was a really nice occasion to feel part of it again.”

Rodriguez did not feature in last Thursday’s 3-0 Europa League win against Vitesse, and Koeman is expected to be cautious with him again this week, as the club face the second leg of their third qualifying round tie before next Sunday’s Premier League opener at Newcastle.

While he feels 100 per cent fit and has no concerns about his knee, the player himself knows it will take a bit of time to rediscover his sharpness on the pitch.

“Obviously, there’s a lot to work on and I think time will tell as well, the more games you play,” he said.

“I’ve got to not be as frustrated as sometimes, you know, because obviously it’s not going to come off, but I do feel good.

“Each training session I’m trying to improve, each game I play I’m trying to improve, and that’s the main thing for myself.”

On his targets for the season, Rodriguez said: “I have set a lot of targets for myself and, obviously, my main one is to be fit and finish the full season – that’s the main one for myself, and hopefully I stick to that.”