Ronald Koeman hailed the spirit of his Saints team as they withstood a physical onslaught from Stoke to make it into the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup.

Saints looked to be cruising through to last eight as they led Stoke 2-0 at half time at the Britannia Stadium.

However, the Potters came flying back at them in the second period and levelled things up at 2-2 as they threw everything they had at Saints.

Peter Crouch suffered a late red card which led to a Saints winner from Graziano Pelle, booking a tie away to League One Sheffield United in the process, as Koeman’s men proved they can win fighting as well as playing free flowing football.

Koeman said he never gave up hope of getting the win.

“No, never, because we played well,” he insisted.

“Of course we had a bit more difficult after the 1-2.

“They scored a fast one after half time but I think we played well, we played a good first half, we scored two great goals and were the much better team on the pitch.

“OK, they showed good character after the half time and it was more difficult because it was really a fight, really cup football, but after 1-2 we created three big chances to make the third and we didn’t.

“OK, after the 2-2 it was difficult because they had a lot of physical, they bring Crouch in and that’s difficult because that’s not the way I like to play but it’s one of the qualities of Stoke and it’s difficult to defend.

“Finally, maybe in the end, after the red card of Crouch, maybe a little bit lucky but we deserved to win because we had more chances than Stoke.”

Stoke really managed to make it a major battle in the second period, testing Saints’ resolve.

“You can’t win always on the football way,” admitted Koeman.

“Stoke made it very difficult and made it a battle in the second half, but still the team showed the spirit.

“Even after the disappointment that they scored the 2-2 my feeling on the bench was positives about my team.

“I had the possibility to change players and even in extra time I think we had a good chance to win.”

Saints will now stay through until the weekend when they face Hull rather than travel back down south, something which Koeman believes will benefit his side.

“We stay until Friday and travel to Hull to play on Saturday,” he reported.

“It’s good because we are together and we have time to recover.”