RALPH Hasenhuttl hailed his side’s mentality after they came from behind to win in dramatic fashion on Saturday.

Leicester took the lead through Dennis Praet but Saints fired back with goals from Stuart Armstrong and Danny Ings.

It’s the first time the St Mary’s side have picked up a win after being behind away from home under the Austrian’s management.

He said: “It was a very tough game against a very strong side but to come back after being 1-0 down it doesn’t happen very often.

“We’ve never won after being 1-0 down.

“It’s an unbelievable mentality and performance. I’m very proud of them.”

One of the reasons Hasenhuttl attributed for the win was the fact he was able to rest his entire squad, minus James Ward-Prowse, for the FA Cup game against Huddersfield last weekend.

The Saints boss made 10 changes for the third-round tie and it was obvious for all to see that it had the required effect at Leicester.

Brendan Rodgers’ side had to play a Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday, which also meant the St Mary’s outfit were afforded more time to prepare for the match.

Because of this, Hasenhuttl believes it meant his players were able to “hunt” for the duration of the encounter and take advantage of Leicester’s fatigue.

He added: “Leicester played on Wednesday and we changed completely in the FA Cup.

“The guys needed this time to take a breather and rest. When you play that many games it helps you.

“At the moment we are really hungry and if you’re hungry you are fit, and you can hunt for 90 minutes or longer. This is one reason why we’re successful now.”

Saturday’s impressive result was dominated by VAR, which intervened a handful of times to chalk off a penalty for Saints and three Leicester goals.

Hasenhuttl believes the technology was fair and showed why it’s an important part of the game.

“We saw today [Saturday] ten times the VAR but I don’t think it killed the atmosphere because the atmosphere was great until the last minute.

“And that shows it’s an important tool for the Premier League.

“Even if it was one time against us and one time for us the most important thing is that it was fair.

“This makes it so much better for me. The way we defend and the set pieces I speak often about using the high line because we know the VAR is there.”