RALPH Hasenhuttl cast a watchful eye over Saints’ B team on Saturday, stating how he was “very pleased” to see the development of the young players.

Saints B won 4-2 in a topsy-turvy encounter at St Mary’s, with boss Dave Horseman naming first-teamers Thierry Small and Will Smallbone in the fixture with in-form Nottingham Forest.

Also spotted at St Mary’s on Saturday were Tino Livramento and Armando Broja, who watched on as a Luke Pearce brace, combined with contributions from Jayden Smith and Kazeem Olaigbe confirmed victory for the young Saints.

Speaking about the reasons for his attendance, Hasenhuttl told the Daily Echo: “It was because we had a few players playing there from my team, support also for the young lads.

“I was very pleased to see about the development we made also in this part of our club because as I said before, life goes on.

“We have to do our job and this is a part of our job to make the club, developing on every part and you could definitely see that there are a lot of good parts now in their game.

“I was very pleased to see how far the development was going on with some players and it's good to watch and good to see.”

Hasenhuttl also revealed that Smallbone required a little bit of convincing to drop down to the B team, with Hasenhuttl calling the move a “step forward” for the youngster.

"Yes, this was why we tried to convince him that it is important for him to play,” added Hasenhuttl.

"It is not a step back, it is always a step forward because he got game time and the chance to play.

"It is important, especially for the young players, to get their rhythm and as we know, we have a lot of games coming up now and it is quite possible that he will play for the first team.

“For that you will need game time, because only in a game will you get normal behaviour and rhythm and this is what you need.”

Smallbone was confirmed to be fit and in contention for tomorrow’s FA Cup tie with West Ham.