Nigel Adkins was disappointed to see his side slip to defeat at Doncaster – even though it didn’t cost them top spot.

Saints, minus Rickie Lambert, didn’t play terribly but weren’t quite at their best and came unstuck against a Doncaster side that started the day bottom of the Championship table.

Billy Sharp’s goal was the difference between the sides but with West Ham losing Saints are still heading the pack.

Adkins said: “You are going to have high and lows.

“We came away expecting to beat Doncaster when you look at the league table – we were top, they were bottom.

“We prepared well for the game and we’ve come away trying to get on the front foot, trying to force the issue to score, trying to dominate possession, trying to give ourselves a chance to go and win it.

“We had a lot of set-plays, a couple of opportunities they created with a counter attack and when you look at it the goal we conceded Guly Do Prado in the area, we get a cross in and a lot of players in there and one long clearance, a lapse of concentration at the back and they’ve got themselves in.

“There was a cross that should have been stopped and a player got himself free and put it in the back of the net.

“From that we have to try and force the issue again to get something from the game.”

He added: “We are coming away to win.

“We know we’ve got to address our away form because if we’re going to have the aspirations that we want to get promoted from this division this season we’ve got to win more games away from home.

“I’ll reflect upon on it but perhaps in our desire to go and win the game the counter attack has cost us.”