Shane Long admits Manchester City are 'hell of a side' after his goal for Southampton contributed to a solid display for the Saints, despite a 3-1 defeat.
Southampton's defeat was their first away from home in the Premier League this season but, aside from the difficult opening, their performance was a positive one.
“We gave it a good go. We got right into them." - Shane Long
Long told the club's website: "After 20 minutes they were 2-0 up and it would have been very easy to roll over and let them get three or four.
"But we were confident in ourselves to get the ball and pass it around. I thought we did that and when we came out in the second half and got the goal, I thought we were right back in the game.
Long got his chance in a central role due to the suspension of leading scorer Graziano Pelle and he carried his recent good international form into this game.
"We had one or two chances to make it 2-2 and that would have been it, but they are a hell of a side," said Long.
"Kolarov's goal to make it 3-1 killed us off but we can take a lot of positives. It's not nice to lose a game but when you lose it playing well it is a little bit easier to take."
The Tipperary man had been suffering from ankle trouble prior to the international break, but came off the bench in Ireland's play-off second leg against Bosnia-Herzegovina and returned to the Southampton line-up last week against Stoke.
"I think all the home fans were nervous,” said Long of the efforts to get an equaliser against Manchester City with the score still at 2-1. “You could see our away fans were bouncing as well, expecting a bit more, and Dušan had a great chance and it came back out to me, and a foot either side and it might have gone in and those little things could have changed the game, but we can hold our heads high.
“We gave it a good go. We got right into them and I'm sure they're delighted to come out of that game with three points.”
