DAVE JONES was generous in defeat on his return to Southampton and wished Gordon Strachan all the best for next month's FA Cup semi-final.

The Wolves boss managed Saints from June 1997 until January 2000, only leaving following unfounded allegations of abuse against teenagers during his time as a social worker several years earlier.

And it was Chris Marsden - one of the players Jones signed for Saints when he was in charge - who opened the scoring after 56 minutes to help Saints seal a 2-0 victory.

Jones and Marsden go back to the days when they were together at Stockport, and the Wolves boss joked: "He's flat out. I've just knocked him out and I will go around and burn his house down later!

"I'm just pleased for the lads I had here under my reign who have welcomed me to the club and went out and did their job. That is what they are paid to do.

"The first was maybe a soft goal, but I don't think Mazza has ever scored a good goal in his life!

"I'll be wishing Gordon all the best and I mean that. It's nothing to do with me now. I inherited players at the club I'm at.

"Gordon has got his team and they become your players."

Although both goals could be described as fortuitous, Jones admitted Saints deserved their victory.

He said: "It doesn't matter how they go in the back of the net.

"I thought the first goal was more fortunate than the second, because the second goal we didn't pick up the runner.

"I thought Beattie had put it in the back of the net. It was always going to take a mistake, because at one stage it did look a bit deadlocked. But they earned it and went on and won the game."

He added: "We didn't do ourselves justice in the second-half and they deserved it.

"There were some sad faces in the dressing room, but we just have to pick ourselves up.

"We had a few half chances in the first-half, but in the second-half they took the game that step further and we didn't.

"Their goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of us a little bit.

"First-half we looked bright and sharp but we didn't do enough to get a draw.

"I have no complaints, but we didn't play as we know we can."

All in all it was a bad day for Jones, particularly as midfielder Keith Andrews, who played in place of suspended skipper Paul Ince, was carried off on a stretcher after an hour with a suspected broken left leg.

The 22-year-old, who suffered the injury when he fell awkwardly inside his own penalty area, was taken immediately to hospital for x-rays.

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