ALAN Pardew hailed Rickie Lambert’s all star striking display as Saints got themselves into black with a 4-1 thumping of Gillingham at St Mary’s.
In an excellent team display, which included two goals from Adam Lallana and a first for the club for Papa Waigo, it was Lambert’s all-round performance and sublime goal that earned the plaudits.
Pardew admitted that since Lambert has been at Saints the striker has been put through his paces physically, being challenged to think about how to get fitter and stay fitter.
And the fruits of his labours were on display as Saints grabbed their second league win of the season to wipe off their ten-point deficit and move them to plus two for the campaign.
Pardew said: “I felt there were a lot of similarities with the Bristol Rovers game in terms of the creative ability of our team.
“In all honesty the Bristol Rovers game could have ended like that if we’d have got a third goal but it wasn’t to be and we ended up with an unfortunate scoreline because we deserved better.
“I couldn’t say that because we got beat but this time we sealed ourselves up which we’d worked on in training to make sure the Bristol Rovers thing didn’t happen again and we showed quality.
“Particularly Rickie Lambert – the background of him coming here is that we’ve physically worked hard with him and he showed that.
“He looked a better product than when he arrived and he gave a centre forward performance that deserved a better stage – not in terms of Southampton but league position.
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