RALPH Hasenhuttl thanked Southampton FC for standing by him after leading the club out of the Premier League’s relegation zone

By winning a brace of six-pointers, Saints have proved that five days can be a very long time in the Premier League.

Hasenhuttl insists he has felt the club’s backing throughout a difficult period.

He said: “This experience has been very important for me as a manager and I’m happy that I went through such a period.

“I’m thankful to the club that it is going a different way, not immediately sacking the manager but supporting him.

“Thankyou to everyone at the club, I could feel big support in this moment, which is important for the future of the club.

“That was very important for me as a manager, I’ve never had such a long time without winning in my managerial career.”

Hasenhuttl has been in charge of Saints for exactly a year and last night’s win was one of, if not the most important, ahead of another big game at Newcastle on Sunday.

“It was by far the best game we showed at home this season,” he continued. “It was very important for us to take six points from two home games. Things change quickly in football, we’ve got some very important games to come and the seven points we have from the last three are massive.

“But more important for me is we rediscovered our identity and how we want to play. Now we know what’s really important for our game we won’t stop showing what we need.”