DEFENDER Taylor Harwood-Bellis struggled to take any positives from Southampton's 3-2 defeat against Leicester.

Saints were 2-0 up on the hour mark and looked good value for their first Premier League win under Russell Martin before they collapsed in the final 35 minutes.

Facundo Buonanotte pulled one back before Jamie Vardy crashed a penalty past Aaron Ramsdale after Ryan Fraser was sent off.

Harwood-Bellis pinpointed the introduction of Abdul Fatawu, who scored a hat-trick against Saints last season, as the turning point in the game.

The England under-21 international insisted Saints failed to deal with the Ghana winger - it was Fatawu who set up Leicester's first, played a role in the second and won the corner for the third. 

A despondent Harwood-Bellis said: “I can’t really sum up how I’m feeling. It hurts. In the first 15 minutes of the second half, we were still good.

“Conceding three goals in the second half can’t happen. Blaming anyone else is not on the front of my mind.

“Their lad comes on and causes us problems. We don’t deal with him well enough and we get punished.

"I felt we came out in the second half with the same mentality (as the first). They score and then their tails are up.

“Their lad comes on and we concede more. We were defending well but it shouldn’t get to that point.

Southampton's Taylor Harwood-Bellis Southampton's Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Image: Stuart Martin) “I’m struggling to see a positive. It can’t get to us having 10 men and our backs against the wall. I’m struggling to figure out how it can end like that.

“The set-piece at the end, the organisation is not right. People aren’t in positions and we get punished."

Saints face a tough test this weekend when they travel to reigning Premier League champions Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola's side secured a late 2-1 win over Wolves on Sunday, preventing Saints from dropping to the bottom of the table.

Saturday's game will mark the first time Harwood-Bellis has faced his boyhood club having joined the City academy at the age of six. 

“We have got to roll our sleeves up. It will hurt for the next couple of days but we have a big game next," he concluded.

“It’s one of the hardest games of the season, away at City. We will prepare for that. We have got to keep going. There are games and points to play for.”