Nigel Adkins insists his players have to be more ruthless, after watching Saints lose 2-0 at home to Wigan.

Premier League football returned to St Mary’s this afternoon following a seven-year absence, but the day ended in disappointment thanks to goals from Franco Di Santo and Arouna Kone.

Adkins, whose side have now lost their opening two fixtures, admitted there are lessons that must be learned.

“It’s a relentless division,” he conceded. “We had opportunities to score and we haven’t taken them.

“You’ve got to be ruthless when you get them, and the goalkeeper’s obviously made some good saves.

“But the harsh reality is you’re going to get punished in this division. Wigan have gone and scored two good goals. Kelv’s probably not had anything else to do for the rest of the game.

“But that’s the division that we are in.”

The Saints boss added: “I think when you look at it we’ve come out with a gameplan, a formation to go and be assertive. We’ve gone and done that against a good footballing side, but the goals change games a little bit.”