RALPH Hasenhuttl was full of praise for the St Mary’s crowd after they helped carry their side over the line in their Premier League draw with Tottenham.

Saints’ energy and frantic defending was matched by fervor in the crowd, with the St Mary’s faithful fully behind their team as they battled for a share of the spoils against a persistent Spurs side.

Hasenhuttl revealed that he believed that the atmosphere was amongst the best he had experienced at St Mary’s since arriving in 2018.

The Austrian stated: “I’m very tired after the game, but happy, super happy with what I have seen.

“I am so grateful for the fans in the stadium. The atmosphere we had here today I think was one of the best since I have been here.

“It was unbelievable. They pushed us, they were fighting with us, they were pushing us until the end after our fantastic first-half.”

"Overall, especially our home form, this is much better.

"We love to play now here with this crowd, it wasn’t always there and it wasn’t always like this, but we get more and more atmosphere and more and more positive support from the fans because we deliver.

"We try to give them all our passion and all our effort and we really appreciate them."

Also receiving praise from the boss was the Saints side, as Hasenhuttl’s side more than matched Spurs despite going down to ten-men.

"After our fantastic first half, even with ten men, we deserve to get something because we had been so good,” continued Hasenhuttl.

“We were fighting and working hard, against all the issues we had, with the COVID cases forty-eight hours before a game, where you do everything, you’re one man down for nearly sixty minutes, and you play with Yan Valery as a centre-back in a back-four.

“I cannot be more proud of seeing a team with one man down, fighting so hard.”

The points means Saints end 2021 on an unbeaten streak of three games, with the side taking five points from three tough fixtures. The result was sweetened by the fact that Norwich and Watford failed to make up any ground with defeats to Crystal Palace and West Ham, Saints’ last two opponents.

Saints rise up to 13th in the league table, ahead of another crucial game in the relegation picture when they host Newcastle on Sunday.