HARRY REDKNAPP refused to take any credit for the substitutions that lifted his side to victory against Norwich.

The Saints boss re-shuffled his defence for the game, dropping captain Claus Lundekvam to the bench and introducing a new centre back pairing of Andreas Jakobsson and Danny Higginbotham.

But after shipping three goals in a rollercoaster first half, Redknapp changed things at half-time - replacing Jakobsson with Lundekvam and right-back Rory Delap with Paul Telfer.

Then, with 16 minutes left, he made the decisive change by throwing on eventual match-winner Henri Camara, who had been dropped to the bench to make way for the fit-again Peter Crouch.

Redknapp said: "It was a last throw of the dice. It wasn't clever, it was luck.

"What can you do? You need a win so you throw him on and the little fella's always a threat.

"We lost our shape when he came on and it was hit and hope really.

"It fell to him and he finished it well.

"I felt first half we played some great stuff from the midfield onwards.

"But every time they came forward they looked like they could score."

If anybody wanted to see why both teams are in the bottom four, then the defending was evidence enough.

Saints have only kept four clean sheets in 20 league matches under Redknapp while Norwich have only kept five all season.

Both sides were decidedly shaky at the back but after Saints conceded with the last kick of the first half, it was enough to force Redknapp into making the double defensive switch.

He added: "It was a gamble but we were making mistakes.

"I wasn't prepared to sit there and keep suffering mistakes so we had to try and do something.

"We were all over the show and I couldn't sit there and let it continue.

"So I thought Claus has been a real character here over the years, he's been a real part of Southampton and what they've done so I said 'are you ready?' He said 'of course I am' so I stuck him on."

Redknapp admitted that he was lucky to have Peter Crouch and Camara fit after both had been struggling with hamstring injuries.

It looked on Friday night as though neither of them would be fit to play, but they both improved remarkably overnight and passed Saturday morning fitness tests.

"Crouch and Camara had a fitness test and I didn't think either of them would play," said Redknapp.

"They couldn't sprint on Friday night.

"But I got a phone call from the physio on Saturday morning saying they'd both give it a go.

"Crouchy got a great goal and the little fella got the winner, but I had to go for it.

"The draw would have been no good to anybody."