RALPH Hasenhuttl described Saints’ performance at Wolves as a “step forward”.

Striker Danny Ings netted his fifth goal in four games to give the St Mary’s side a second-half lead, only for Raul Jiminez to cancel it out with a strike from the penalty spot.

The point ends a run of three Premier League defeats in a row for Saints, which left Hasenhuttl happy with what he saw at Molineux.

“I think it was a step forward after the last three games where we conceded a lot of goals,” explained the Austrian.

“I think we were more stabilised in this game and better organised which is what we’ve been working on in the last two weeks.

“It seemed to look better and I had a good feeling at half time because I knew we would get a few more chances in the second half.

“The opponent was always going to risk a little bit more and that was the fact when Ingsy took it to 1-0.

“We then had a period where we had a few too many ball losses in the centre and the crowd was getting back in the game, which was also the reason why we conceded the penalty and goal.”

Wolves had two first half goals ruled out by VAR, both scored by Jiminez, due to a handball and an offside.

The home side eventually got their breakthrough when Matt Doherty went down inside the box from a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg challenge.

Goalkeeper Angus Gunn dived the right way but was beaten by Jiminez’s power which left Hasenhuttl rueing the initial tackle.

He added: “It wasn’t good defending in that moment which is a pity because the longer the game was 1-0, the higher the chance of us scoring the second one because the opponent must take more risks.

“After the last three games where we didn’t take something, it was important to get a point here.

“We take it and now we must step on and work from this and we have the chance to do this against Leicester.”