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Saints striker Rickie Lambert was refusing to be downhearted after Mauricio Pochettino’s side suffered their first defeat of pre-season last night.

After back-to-back wins in the Spanish leg of their summer tour, Saints moved on to Austria to take on much-fancied German side Schalke.

Lambert and his teammates found the step up in opponent hard-going as they were beaten 2-0 despite an encouraging first half display.

Last season’s 15-goal leading scorer Lambert said afterwards: “If we won 6-0 we would not be thinking we are the best team in the world so we are not too worried about losing 2-0.

“We started well until they scored and it was not the best of goals to concede.

“It was a good work out for us because that is a different class of team we have come up against. They are completely different in every department.”

Lambert, who missed a good chance to equalise when Saints were trailing 1-0 before being taken off in the 70th minute, said: “We did well for sixty minutes but pre-season is all about working hard and getting your fitness back.”

Saints move on to face another tough test against Turkish side Besiktas in the same Stadion Villach Lind stadium on Saturday.

Young winger Lloyd Isgrove, who put in an eye-catching display, said: “It was good to play the first half against a string Schalke side.

“It was a disappointing result but looking forward to Saturday.”

Left back Luke Shaw added: “It was a good test for us against Schalke. Onto the next one now on Saturday.”