DAVID Horseman said Saints B ‘shot themselves in the foot’ in a St Mary’s disaster that sees them remain bottom of Premier League 2.

Burnley eased to a comfortable 2-0 win, despite missing a penalty, as Horseman’s side saw goalkeeper Harry Lewis sent off for an unrelated incident in the first half.

Thierry Small, 17, got his first minutes in a Saints shirt and despite a brief showing of magic in the second half, before substitution on the hour mark, couldn’t inspire a team full of players even younger than him to a result.

Speaking after the match, Horseman said: “It’s a tough one to take because we shot ourselves in the foot today, mistakes happen so it is not about one particular person.

“But the people who turned up today would have seen what our season has been about, loads of good bits, good with the ball but because they’re so young they’re probably a bit fragile at the moment with confidence, certain things are going against them.

“Hopefully the people who were here could see a couple of good players, some really strong individual performances today. And we will keep going, we will get there, its certain that we have got good players so we have to keep developing, keep working, and we will turn it around.”

Horseman admitted that the red card to Lewis, who is Saints’ third choice shot-stopper behind Alex McCarthy and Fraser Forster, made the match in front of over 600 supporters much more of a challenge.

The keeper miskicked a clearance straight into the path of Joe McGlynn and saw red for upending him just outside the box, in attempt to atone for his error.

Horseman added: “Yeah, really difficult, it’s not something that many of these will be used to because they only joined full time football three months ago, so it is difficult.

“I actually thought we handled it really well and created a few chances in the second half. Bar giving a penalty away and a few bits and pieces I thought we actually controlled the second half on the whole.

“It’s difficult but the boys showed a lot of character at times today, that will hold them in good stead as in their careers they will play with ten men more than once.”