Nigel Adkins couldn’t hide his disappointment as Saints were pegged back to draw 1-1 with Portsmouth in the big derby match at Fratton Park.

Rickie Lambert gave Saints a second half lead but a goal from Joel Ward meant it finished with honours even.

Saints go into Christmas a point clear at the top of the Championship but Adkins felt it could have been even better.

He said: “The game was there to be won. The game was won.

“I didn’t think it was a great game by any means, people were slipping over, there were free kicks left, right and centre, there was no flow to the game at all and set plays were going to be important.

“We scored a good goal. Rickie Lambert I thought was a massive threat all day, he’s a class act and we got ourselves in front.

“I thought with seven minutes to go we were aware they’re a big side and have got the ball forward and we’ve got to defend that one and I thought we’d have enough about ourselves to defend it.

“Go and win the first and go and win the second ball. It’s as simple as that.

“We’ve got 11 in there so go and win the header, go and win the second ball, defend the goal with your lives and you win and pick up points.

“I will take the positives in respect that we’ve just gone one point clear going into the Boxing Day fixture and I suppose everyone would take that.

“We’ll learn the lessons from the game, we needed to defend that goal better and individually you’ve got to have the desire to go and head the football.”

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