CUP king Nathan Redmond admitted his recent form had been “a bit up and down” for Saints – but was pleased to see hard work pay off.

The 27-year-old put in a stellar display with two goals and an assist during Saturday’s 3-0 win at Bournemouth, to help Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men progress to the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Redmond’s brace took his season’s tally to three goals in all competitions and helped set up a last-four clash with Leicester City at Wembley next month.

His only other strike this campaign came against Sheffield United in the Premier League back in December.

Asked whether he felt he could have performed better in recent weeks, having only scored once before Saturday, Redmond told the Daily Echo: “Yeah, for sure. It’s been a bit up and down.

“But I’ve been working hard consistently and trying to give my all for the team regardless of what kind of moment I’m in, whether it’s good or bad.

“The most important thing was that we got the win. We’re into the next round. Personal accolades are always nice, but I’m more delighted for the club.”

Redmond’s first goal against Cherries was a driving run into the box before smashing into the top corner on the stroke of half-time.

His second came on the rebound after Stuart Armstrong had hit the post for Saints just short of the hour mark.

Assessing the contest as a whole, Redmond said: “Of course, I would’ve liked a hat-trick! I was gutted in the second half.

“But it just showed the desire which we’ve maybe lacked in the last couple of months, especially in the second half.

“Myself, Stu, Moussa (Djenepo), Che (Adams), we were all plugging away to try and score goals.

“We played some good stuff. I was sort of a product of the formation on Saturday and how we played the usual 4-2-2-2, but myself a little bit deeper, just to utilise the spaces.

“We knew Moussa was always going to be wide to have that width in the game and with myself and Stu sort of floating in pockets and trying to pick the ball up from the guys at the back doing really, really well to make sure we were being found.

“We played really, really well. When we lost it, we tried to regain it as quick as possible.

“We knew they (Bournemouth) were doing really well in the league.

“In the Championship they’ve been pushing to get into the play-offs and been there or thereabouts the whole season.

“So we knew it was going to be a tough game regardless. The gulf between the Premier League and the Championship sometimes is not that big and in the cup anything can happen, form goes out the window regardless of if you’re playing well or if you’re not. So we had to put a professional performance in and I think we did that.”

Redmond came off the bench at Wembley the last time Saints reached an FA Cup semi-final. He replaced Shane Long after 63 minutes, as the south coast side lost 2-0 to Chelsea.

Quizzed on Saints’ chances of winning the cup this campaign, Redmond said: “We know what our aspirations were at the start of the season.

“In the last couple of weeks or month or so we’ve not lived up to our own expectations as well as the supporters’ and everybody else that watches us.

“So we knew that coming here (to Bournemouth) we could still make some of the aspirations at the start of the season happen by securing a win and putting in a very professional performance, which I think we did.

“Hopefully, we can go into the international break with a little bit of time off from the league and the cup and recharge the batteries and get ready for a strong finish to the end of the season.”