Shane Long might have played the match-winning role against Leicester, but he was quick to credit his teammates for allowing him to do so.

The forward jumped off the bench to score both goals in Saturday’s 2-0 victory, earning Saints a result that keeps them second in the table going into the international break.

However, while it was Long who provided the decisive contribution, he praised the rest of the side for laying the groundwork for his star turn, by wearing down the Foxes defence.

“You could see the lads had worked Leicester hard,” he said.

“To be fair to them, they put in a good shift and you could see there was tired legs there.

“I wouldn’t say it was an easy job coming on, trying to get into the game and get up the pitch straight away.

“But fresh legs makes that little bit of a difference and, luckily, the chances fell my way.”

Long had scored his opening Saints goal in the 3-2 Capital One Cup win at Stoke last month, but Saturday’s efforts represented the 27-year-old’s first Premier League strikes for his new club.

“It is a purely selfish thing getting that first goal,” he said.

“You can wait so long and two came at once – almost three at once, as I nearly got the one at the end.

“Getting the three points in games like this at home is always big for us. The longer we can stay up the table, the better.”

Long arrived at Saints in the summer, in a £12m deal from Hull, and has had to adapt to a new role, largely being utilised in a wide position.

He has performed well there, although it has meant chances are often harder to come by.

However, he showed against Leicester that he can indeed be a significant goal threat for the side.

Long insisted again that, despite having to wait a while to get off the mark, the price Saints paid for him had not been a burden.

“No, not really,” he said. “Luckily, the focus hasn’t been on me individually.

“It has kind of been on us as a team, with so many players leaving and so many players coming in and everyone expecting us to have a bad season.

“It kind of took the focus off me a little bit, you know, to just go out and show what I can do on the pitch.

“To be fair to the manager, he has blended the players well, changed it up week-in, week-out and everyone is playing as a team, even off the bench and behind closed doors.

“It doesn’t just happen on a Saturday, you know. We do put a lot of work into how we play football.

“It is just nice to see it all come together. We know it is early in the season yet, but it is nice to get off to a good start.

“Second in the league takes some doing so we’re very proud of that.”