NIGEL Adkins insists that Saints’ incredible winning streak at St Mary’s will not become a burden.

The 3-0 rout of Brighton represented an 18th league victory in a row at home – and took the tally in all competitions to 20.

The club-record run has started to attract a lot of attention every time a game at St Mary’s rolls around.

But Adkins has dismissed any fears that it could become an unwelcome distraction, instead declaring that he and the players happily embrace it.

“That’s what we’re striving to do, we’re striving to win every game,” he said.

“At times, like in the first half, we didn’t have control of the football well enough.

“But then credit to the opposition.

“You’ve got to work hard to work the scenarios out and get a grip of the football and we’ve gone and done that and we’ve got a victory, and that’s what we’re trying to have – a winning mentality at Southampton.”

After struggling to break down a determined Brighton team during a dismal first half, Saints changed tactics in the second half en route to an impressive demolition of the Seagulls.

Adkins revealed that an emphasis on bringing full backs Frazer Richardson and Danny Fox into the game was a key component in the win, with the former laying on Rickie Lambert’s opener.

“If you look at the game from the sideline, with (Liam) Bridcutt holding in there we were too expansive a little bit,” said Adkins.

“They passed the ball very well. We’ve got a fantastic playing surface here and we’ve allowed them to pass the football a bit too much.

“So we had to narrow that up to get a grip of the game again. We changed our shape a little bit to do that.

“But by doing that the width is where the full backs are.

“You can see countless times in the first half Frazer raiding down the right and he’s taking Mackail-Smith with him, which is what you look to do – take one of their strengths down to the other side of the pitch.

“But we never passed him the ball when it was on and we never looked at it.

“So we tried to put Adam in the pocket, in the hole, at the tip of the diamond if you like, to get on the football and be more effective, so he could pass the ball.

“We had far too many long passes in the first half.

“But the second half we’ve done well and we’ve got a very good three points.”