Sparta manager Zdenek Scasny heaped praise on Saints after last night's Europa League defeat at St Mary's.

Scasny nsisted the gulf in quality between the two teams was too big to overcome.

"(The early goal) certainly didn't help us but I must admit that the Saints were an aggressive, good team," he said. "Our loss was justified.

"If you compare the quality of the English league and the Czech league, it's a different level. The English league is very high quality.

"The quality of the home team was really strong. They have really great players. Against an opponent like Southampton, it doesn't matter what tactic you choose.

"Southampton played a really good game. I saw their last few matches.

"The reason why it was like this was they scored the first goal, compared to games against Sunderland and Watford.

"They scored first, and then had a lot of chances."

The defeat extended Sparta's record to 15 games without a win against English clubs in European competition, while Saints have now only lost one of 15 European home ties stretching back to 1969.