NIGEL Adkins heaped praise on his players after they produced a devastating second half performance in the 3-0 win over Brighton.

A dull game sparked into life after the break, with Rickie Lambert netting a hat-trick to see off a dogged Albion team at St Mary’s.

Adkins wasn’t happy with his side’s display in the first half, but was thrilled with their performance in the second period.

“I think you’ve got to give Brighton a little bit of credit in the first half, because they’ve come and controlled the football far too much – more than anybody’s done probably at St Mary’s this season,” he said.

“They gave us one or two challenges that we had to sort out. Great credit to the players, because they’ve gone and done that.

“We’ve come out in the second half and we’ve had to adapt our shape a little bit. We highlighted that before the game and we’ve come out second half and done well.

“It was a great goal from Rickie Lambert. We talked about how the width had to come from the full backs to get the crosses in there.

“We didn’t get nowhere near enough in the first half when the opportunities were on.

“We didn’t pass the ball quick enough – we gave it away far too cheaply – and we allowed Brighton to get a little bit of control of the football.

“But great credit to the players, they turned it round and Lambert scores a great hat-trick. We controlled the second half, kept our discipline, so it was a pleasing three points.”