KYLE Walker-Peters described as “a lovely feeling,” scoring his career-first Premier League goal versus defending champions Manchester City and afforded himself that it was a “decent finish”.

The 24-year-old struck what was almost certainly more than a decent finish beyond Brazilian keeper Ederson in the seventh minute of the 1-1 draw with the title-chasing runaways at St Mary’s.

Lifting it over and across City’s stopper with a measured lift of the right boot, the former Spurs defender notched his first in England’s top-flight on his 68th appearance.

It was the versatile Saints man’s second goal for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side, after he had opened his account in the 8-0 demolition job of Newport County in the EFL Cup this campaign.

Daily Echo: Kyle Walker-Peters also netted brilliantly versus Levante in pre-season (Pic: Stuart Martin)Kyle Walker-Peters also netted brilliantly versus Levante in pre-season (Pic: Stuart Martin)

And it’s only the third goal of his entire senior career altogether. The first came in the 90th minute of a 6-1 FA Cup romping over Rochdale – Heung-min Son was twice on the scoresheet that day in February, 2018.

“Yeah, it is. It’s a lovely feeling,” Walker-Peters told the Daily Echo. “I can’t really describe it I’m just over the moon to get my first goal and I think was a decent finish.”

He continued: “I’m knackered. We had to really dig deep but we’re happy to take a point from the champions.

“I think it shows that we can really compete against the top teams, we can be really resilient and even though we scored really early we stayed in the game and kept creating chances and managed to take a point from them.”

Daily Echo: Saints held Man City to a draw for the second time this campaign (Pic: Stuart Martin)Saints held Man City to a draw for the second time this campaign (Pic: Stuart Martin)

Walker-Peters also took the time to credit his manager Hasenhuttl for the work the Austrian has put in to improve Saints this campaign.

After 22 matches played, Saints are 10 points clear of the drop zone and, although many below have points in hand, look more like competing within the skirmish of teams around them (Leicester, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace) than they do dropping further.

Hasenhuttl has tried to be more proactive and dynamic with their team shape this season in order to better match opposition, or spring a surprise.

Daily Echo: Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl (Pic: Stuart Martin)Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl (Pic: Stuart Martin)

In the City clash, the boss changed his team to a 5-4-1 while still leading during the first-half and was not afraid to change back almost immediately at half-time when it was not working as hoped.

“I think we are a lot different this season in terms of that we change position quite a bit, we are showing people more than the 4-2-2-2,” Walker-Peters added.

“We can play with the five at the back, we can play with two in midfield or three in midfield. I think that is another good thing to have."

He continued: “Like I have said about myself being versatile, as a team we are showing that we can adapt to different shapes and I think that is really important.

Daily Echo: Kyle Walker-Peters has operated at both left-back and right-back in 21-22 (Pic: Stuart Martin)Kyle Walker-Peters has operated at both left-back and right-back in 21-22 (Pic: Stuart Martin)

“Of course he (Hasenhuttl) has given us the confidence, but he’s also the manager so whether we are not totally sure about it we have to trust him, and that’s what we’re doing.

“We trust in everything he tells us to do regardless of the formation and we’re performing for him.”