Southampton 0-0 Bolton Wanderers – Manager match reaction

The Saints had made a 100 per cent start to the Championship season at home but failed to make a breakthrough in 90 dramatic minutes at St Mary’s.

Bolton, who had beat promotion chasing Wolves at Molineux in midweek, preserved their unbeaten record at the stadium with an organised and courageous display which further underlines their credentials at this level of football.

“It was a good game, we knew it was going to be a difficult one and we had to really concentrate and stick to the gameplan because of how hard it’s proven for every team who has come here,” Schumacher said after the final whistle.

“So far this season they’ve had a 100 per cent record, and we knew that they were going to cause problems, but we also said to the players that we can’t just sit back and allow them just to keep peppering our goal.

“We had to make sure we packed a punch too and certainly in that second half I was really pleased with how brave we were, and we created a couple of big chances in the first half, but in the second half we had some really good moments.

“In the end I think we would have taken a point before the game, so we are pleased.”

Schumacher made three changes to his side, bringing Luca Stephenson in for his first start since the opening day of the season, which means Gaizka Larrazabal was pushed ahead of him into midfield.

Southampton shifted their formation and personnel throughout to try and find an advantage in the game, without success.

“This league tests you every single game,” Schumacher said. “Every game is different, it’s a different challenge. A lot of the games last season in League One followed a similar pattern as we have talked about before.

“This season you’ve got to really figure out what the opposition do, so we felt the best way to go about it was to play a system with a more defensive right winger because of how many bodies they put on the top line.

“At times we had to defend in our own half against a back five, and at times when the ball was higher than their half we had to go as a back four, so that takes a bit of time, a bit of planning and thankfully we got the gameplan right. The players executed it perfectly because if you don’t do that against top quality players like the ones Southampton have got, they can pick you apart.”

Stephenson’s performance in his first game after tearing his thigh muscle was a major plus for the Bolton boss.

“It was a huge effort and it sort of summarises what I said the other day about you can be out of the squad sometimes, you can feel as though you’re nowhere near it and then the next minute you’re required to play because that’s the tactics this game requires.

“But it’s testament to Lucas’ professionalism for him to come out and play for the first time in a couple of months and be able to compete at playing 90 minutes and be as explosive as he has. He showed how fit he is and what a good attitude he has got.

“He didn’t give up because it was tough out there.”

Wanderers have taken four points from two tough away fixtures and now return back to the Toughsheet on Friday night against another of the Championship’s big guns, Middlesbrough.

“I’m still a bit frustrated by the result against Stoke last Saturday,” Schumacher said. “But if you look at it from a broader perspective, if someone would have said to us that we’d get four points out of the next two away games we’d have accepted that with the level of opposition and the quality that we’re up against.”

Schumacher admitted his side had got a moment of good fortune when Leo Scienza’s cross bounced off Ruben Rodrigues’s arm but was not deemed a penalty by referee Matt Donohue. But he also pointed to a few chances that Wanderers failed to take.

“They would say that they had chances, and I think it was a penalty,” he added. “That decision went for us and they also missed a big opportunity right in front of goal, so we benefitted from that too.

“I think what pleased me the most, though, is that we had as many shots as they did, and I think more of them were on target. Larra’s chance in the first half was massive, even though he didn’t get a shot away. He was in on goal.

“We haven’t sat back and just felt in awe of anybody. We came here and tried to be positive and take the game to them, which wasn’t easy.

“But when we got our moments, especially in the second half, it was there. And there is a little bit of disappointment because it would have been nice to get a goal here for the fans.

“It wasn’t meant to be, we take the point and we’re pleased, so we move on.”