Ronald Koeman said Saints’ draw at Liverpool proves the growth of his side.

Saints put in a good display at Anfield but found themselves a goal down in the closing stages of the game as Christian Benteke arrowed home a fine header.

However, Saints were not to ready to throw in the towel and extended their unbeaten start on the road in the Premier League with Sadio Mane scoring an equaliser with four minutes remaining.

The comeback showed plenty of character from the side, with the fine run away from home in this campaign also containing a famous win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Koeman said: “It’s very positive. Of course, not too much draws because it’s one, point, one point, one point, but out of five – Chelsea, Liverpool difficult away games.

“That tells how we grow, how we grow as a team.

“Everybody in the dressing room of course was happy about that one point because if in the last 15 minutes you score the 1-1 you are pleased, but also disappointed with how we played. We didn’t create enough to score more goals.

“I think that’s a good mentality because that means you not accept, that we know we can play better than we did, even in this fantastic stadium.”

Liverpool started the game in control of possession but didn’t do much with it.

It allowed Saints the opportunity to really gain a foothold in the game and grow as an attacking threat.

The half tine introduction of Benteke for Liverpool opened up the game, with Mane a constant threat for Saints with his pace on the counter attack.

Though the Senegalese international ended up with a late red card, he had already scored the vital leveller.

Koeman felt his side were good value for a point, but was honest enough to admit that they hadn’t done enough, particularly in the attacking areas, to pick up a win.

“One point yes, not more, because one of our qualities is to keep the ball, to have good attacking movements, creating chances, and I think our offensive performance was not good enough,” reflected the Saints manager.

“Also because I think Liverpool played out of a good organisation, strong physically, defensively, but we can do it better than we did offensively than today, and that’s the answer. “It wasn’t deserved to win the game, but also not to lose the game.

“It wasn’t a lot of opportunities for both teams.

“A great goal of Benteke but a good reaction of our team and we scored the equaliser and that was good, but we can play better football than we did today.”