Maya Yoshida spoke to reporters following the Saints' 1-0 home victory over Slaven Bilic's West Ham side in Saturday's late kick-off. The Japanese international made his first Premier League start since a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace back in December, but he was on hand to score the winner in just the 9th minute.
Saints dug in
The Saints number 3 proved to be the difference between the two teams, although his side were reduced to ten men when midfielder Victor Wanyama was shown his marching orders, but Maya Yoshida was delighted to play a key role in the win.
He admitted he felt the need to "get a little bit of confidence" having been on the substitutes' bench for a long time, and the goal "gave me that".
Yoshida pleased with win
The Japanese centre-back was also thankful to his teammates for the win and he went on to add that they'd "tried to give me confidence" too, which is always encouraging to hear.
"The goal was important, and tactically for the first 20 minutes we played very well. West Ham were just above us, now we're much closer to them - it's a really important three points."
Yoshida eager to progress following encouraging display
Yoshida wants his side to really push on and continue the run after their fantastic recent run of results, hoping that he can have a sustained run in the team as a result of his impressive display - as they take a trip to south Wales with relegation battlers Swansea City on the horizon next weekend.
"I know that I need to show more quality, and I need to show better performances to get back my position [in the team]. For Fraser Forster, we're also going to make another record; we need to continue like this next week now."