CHARLIE Austin has laid into the match officials after they disallowed his goal for offside.

The striker rifled the ball past Ben Foster from just inside the box, but the referee ruled it out after accusing Maya Yoshida of being offside.

Yoshida was stood closest to the goal at the time Austin struck the ball, but the defender didn’t touch it or impede Foster’s vision, which left Saints’ striker claiming the referee’s need help.

Austin said: "It’s ridiculous, they shouldn’t be in the game

"We scored a perfectly good goal that was ruled out for offside. The officials cost us two points. They said it was offside, that is a joke.

"People go on about VAR, they clearly need help. If this is the best, most-watched league in the world then give them all the help they need. It is a joke.

"Sure there are many positives, we worked hard, we deserved three points and we would have got that had we not been let down by the official."

Saints were on target for a rare home win after Manolo Gabbiadini's goal but were pegged back by Jose Holebas' deflected strike.

And Austin was adamant that their performance deserved all three points and took aim at the referee once more for costing Mark Hughes' side a vital win.

"We feel like we have been let down. I started well, worked hard to be up 1-0 at half-time and we stuck to the plan," Austin added.

"We didn’t get beat but we should have gotten away with three points going into the international break.

"The performance was there, we can take that away and we should manage the game. I’m angry is what it is, we should have won 2-0."