Ralph Hasenhuttl hails “brave” Southampton after West Ham win

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said his team put on a “brave performance” following their 3-2 win against West Ham United in their back-and-forth Boxing Day clash.

Jan Bednarek scored the deciding goal to earn Saints the victory on Sunday after goals from Mohamed Elyounoussi and James Ward-Prowse were cancelled out by West Ham’s Michail Antonio and Said Benrahma.

MATCH REPORT: Southampton earn 3-2 win at West Ham on Boxing Day

Despite Saints’ defensive fragility and penchant for throwing away all three points, Hasenhuttl’s side managed to dig deep and limit any chances of a third West Ham comeback to consign David Moyes’ men to defeat at the London Stadium.

“It is a huge win because our record here in the last five years is that we haven’t taken a point here,” Hasenhuttl told Sky Sports after the game.

“We played well today - we never stopped believing and scored three fantastic goals. We had a bit of a push back but an excellent opening 15 minutes - and we can’t play that way for 90 minutes so it’s normal but we played well.”

It was Southampton’s response after taking the lead for a third time that seemingly pleased Hasenhuttl the most.

“We have dropped points a lot in the league this season but we showed resilience and absolutely had the right answers for everything they put on the pitch. We showed tactically a very brave performance.”

With that win, Southampton move up to 14th in the Premier League standings, taking 20 points in 18 games.