STEVEN Davis admits Saints should have built on their "perfect start" after his second goal of the season gave them an early lead against Brighton.

Davis, who scored in Saints' 1-0 win at Crystal Palace in September, looked to have put his side on course for another away victory when he headed the opening goal in the seventh minute.

The Saints captain pounced after James Ward-Prowse’s free kick came back off the upright.

But Brighton were a much improved side after their disappointing first half.

Davis said: “We got the goal, the perfect start bit never really got going from there and we’re disappointed with that.

“It was an ideal start in many ways. We know the quality James has got, he was obviously very unlucky not to score himself and his deliveries as a whole today were excellent, as we always know they will be.

“But from there on we’ve got to be a little disappointed with ourselves. We felt comfortable enough but we didn’t have as much possession as we’d have liked and we haven’t really forced their keeper into any saves and that’s disappointing from our point of view.

“You expect that confidence and belief to grow and to test them more than we did.

“If you don’t get that second goal you’re always leaving it open for them to get back in the game.”

This was Saints' second point away to one of the promoted teams.

“We tried to force the ball too much at times but I think you’ve got to give them credit as well,” continued Davis.

“It was difficult to find the space at times. We always knew, having played Huddersfield earlier this season, that it was going to be difficult and that we’d have to fight for everything, and that was the case again.

“They look solid, they‘ve had a decent start to the season and will take confidence from that. We’ll analyse the game and see what we can do better and improve on going forward.”

With another away point to their name, Saints can at least look forward to trying to extend their unbeaten run to four matches against Burnley on Saturday. “We wanted maximum points from the last two games before the international break,” continued Northern Ireland star Davis, who has a two-legged World Cup play-off qualifier against Switzerland to look forward to next month.

“As much as we’re disappointed we’ll take the positives, go again and try to make sure we get three points on Saturday,” he added.