Saints boss Gordon Strachan admitted he was pleased with the performance of Francis Benali and said the defender "should be very proud of himself."

Benali made his first start since April 2000 against Millwall on Saturday, replacing the injured Wayne Bridge at left back, and produced a characteristically whole-hearted display.

The 34-year-old is a cult hero amongst Saints fans and was greeted by a fantastic ovation when he took to the field and was cheered every time he touched the ball.

Strachan said: "He did well and I'm really pleased for him.

"In the week he said to me 'if you need me I'm ready' and that was good.

"He trains very hard and Francis Benali has done a job. He should be very proud of himself."

Speaking of the fourth round tie - where Saints were within seconds of losing to lower division opposition - the Saints boss added: "For the first 15 minutes we were excellent.

"We needed to recover from our first defeat for a while (against Liverpool) and they were nowhere near a goal apart from a horrendous bobble on a backpass.

"Then they got a goal from a free-kick in exactly the same spot as last week, so I'm not too happy about that.

"We had opportunities after that to equalise like the scramble in the box and one might have been over the line.

"But we were rushed around the 18-yard box and got caught up in the crowd's anxiety a bit."

The 1-1 draw means that Saints face a replay at The New Den on Tuesday, February 4, but Strachan insisted he was not going to hide behind excuses when his team failed to win.

"Every time we beat somebody or batter them it's always the worse they've played," he said, making reference to remarks made by Glenn Hoddle, Graeme Souness and Kevin Keegan after matches at St Mary's this season.

"That would be an easy excuse to make, but it was case of circumstances and Millwall making us play like that.

"Winning games makes you feel better or going unbeaten - we've only had one defeat in 12 games so we're alright.

"You cannot criticise this team, they have been playing well for a year.

"But you can say a couple of my better players weren't at their best.

"I thought their two centre halves were excellent and that's why I changed my strikers, and fair play to Jo Tessem and Kevin Davies, they got something out of the game for us."