Martin: Southampton changed promotion dynamic after being written off

Saints looked destined for the playoffs after three defeats in four during February, but three home wins has them four points off the top two.

A Che Adams brace and Stuart Armstrong’s fourth goal of the season sealed the points on a comfortable Tuesday evening.

No team has picked up more points than Saints since their win over Leeds United in September, while their 84 points accrued is more at this stage of the season than the promoted Saints side in 2012. 

Speaking to the Daily Echo, Saints boss Martin said: “I think it was a brilliant performance with some really beautiful stuff.

Russell Martin pictured on the touchline during his side's 3-0 win (Image: Stuart Martin)

“It has been a big week for us. It has changed the dynamic. We were written off some time ago but the players have stuck at it and been resilient.

“We have the opportunity to take the points off teams around us but we have to take care of the next one against Cardiff and if we don’t then the others become a bit pointless.

"I said in our chat in the office after someone said it was nice to have an easy game. It's never easy. It's never easy. 

"It's a big step forward from Saturday. We need to learn again from this what's going to be important for this Saturday now." 

Adams opened the scoring in the 19th minute when he tapped in Adam Armstrong’s centre for his 100th career goal.

He doubled his tally by finishing a fine team move with a cool finish before S Armstrong capitalised on a defensive howler to smash in.

Che Adams has now scored 15 goals in the Championship this season (Image: Stuart Martin)

The second goal, scored by Adams, came during a minute's applause for 28 year old Saints fan Joe Godden, who was tragically killed last week. 

Martin added: "I hope it was a special moment for his family. I wasn't aware of it until after when I asked about the clapping. 

"I'm really sorry for their loss. I thought the crowd were great during that moment and for us to score as well. Hopefully, it brought a little bit of light." 

Preston, who sit 10th in the division, had the third lowest expected goals of the Championship season with 0.07 at St Mary's.

Manager Ryan Lowe said: “The be-all and end-all was the first half has cost us. The game plan that we set out to do in the first half was nowhere near.

“The game was probably over at half-time at 3-0. You can’t give a team like Southampton chances like that because they’re a fantastic team.

“The game plan was to try and nullify their strengths and capitalise on their weaknesses and we didn’t really do either.

“They could end up going up automatically, if not they’re going to be a real force in the playoffs.”