RALPH Hasenhuttl reserved praise for Alex McCarthy for his vital second-half stops against Leicester City.

The goalkeeper was unable to prevent Jonny Evans from netting in the first half, only managing to parry away Wilfred Ndidi's effort into the path of the Northern Irishman.

James Maddison then struck low and hard to beat McCarthy at his near post early in the second period.

But, with the game locked at 2-2, the goalkeeper made a brilliant low save to tip Harvey Barnes's effort around the post, after Kyle Walker-Peters had conceded possession as the game entered its final 20 minutes.

And McCarthy, who turns 32 tomorrow, had to be alert again in stoppage time to deny Ayoze Perez's goalbound effort to secure a point.

Those stops came less than two weeks after the former Crystal Palace man was at fault for arguably both goals when Saints lost 2-1 at struggling Norwich City.

"I must say Alex made fantastic saves to keep us in the (Leicester) game," said boss Hasenhuttl.

"He saved us a point. Against Norwich he lost us a point, he knows this, that he didn’t do a good job there.

"But I must say he has played a good season."

McCarthy has played all 14 of Saints' Premier League fixtures so far this season, keeping five clean sheets.