Alex McCarthy heads off for England duty on the back of a fine display to help Saints to a gutsy win at Crystal Palace.

The Saints stopper had one of the busiest 45 minutes of his time at the club as Palace fought back to try and rescue something at Selhurst Park.

For McCarthy, playing against his former club, it was a strong display to top a fine week which saw him earn a call-up to the England squad for the upcoming matches against Spain and Switzerland.

Saints boss Mark Hughes said: “He’s done very well.

“I think he’s getting better and stronger and showing more leadership.

“That’s the demand from your number one goalkeeper so you have to have that.

“He is helping the guys in front of him and leading from a position behind our back four which is starting to look really solid and more accomplished with each game they play.”

One player unlikely to make international duty is Republic of Ireland striker Shane Long, who was forced off during the second half through injury.

“He’s done something to his foot,” confirmed Hughes.

“We haven’t got to the bottom of it really and we aren’t sure if he got a kick or came down on it but he’s hobbling around and he’s very likely to miss the internationals I think as we need to get to the bottom of the injury.”

Long was replaced by Charlie Austin, who had an immediate impact as he won a penalty just minutes after being introduced.

Austin took the ball but his spot kick was weak and saved by Wayne Hennessey, but Hughes doesn’t believe it will change the way Saints decide who takes their penalties.

“Sometimes the guy who what it and feels confident is the one who picks it up first and that’s what Charlie did,” said Hughes.

“It’s unfortunate and it frayed our nerves a little bit towards the end because we didn’t have that second goal and it didn’t count against us.”

There was much talk about the fact Saints were boosted by the absence of Palace talisman Wilfried Zaha, but Hughes insisted his side’s performance suggested they could have handled him.

“He’s clearly a very talented boy and leading into the game we talked about his potential and his ability to hurt us,” reflected Hughes.

“He wasn’t in the side and they changed things around and were able to bring other good players in.

“With hindsight you don’t know if he would have been able to make a difference but with the level of control we had in the game that was evident in the first half he would have struggled to get into the game.”