Nigel Adkins praised the winning mentality of Southampton as they ground out a 1-0 success over Millwall.
Championship leaders set new club record to stay at the summit
Nigel Adkins praised the winning mentality of Southampton as they ground out a 1-0 success over Millwall.
Brazilian Guly provided the game's solitary goal to make it four wins in as many outings for the South Coast outfit.
It is the first time the Saints have ever started the season in such fashion and it was their determination to grind out the result that so pleased their manager.
"We had to grind out the result in the end but it was a great goal by Guly Do Prado," said Adkins.
"It was a tough game but we have got a gritty mentality.
"It was a good three points but it was a very hard game. We played really well in the first 20 minutes which helped.
Different
"We had to show a different side to our game today. We didn't give ourselves enough quality on the ball. We got the right result, though.
"It was great credit to our players. We have a winning mentality and want to excel in attack and defence."
Southampton started brightly and it was no surprise when they went ahead, with Guly getting on the end of Jack Cork's weighted pass to slot home.
Millwall impressed after that and had the better of the second half, with Josh McQuoid missing a good chance and having two efforts cleared off the line.
Tamika Mkandawire saw his header clawed away by Kelvin Davis, before Frazer Richardson scrambled a McQuoid header away as the Saints won an 11th straight game at home.
Blasted
Millwall boss Kenny Jackett blasted his side's lack of quality, though, after they slumped to their first defeat of the season.
He said: "We can play a lot better than that. We had a co-ordination problem from back to front. I was disappointed with a lot of aspects of our game.
"We showed heart and guts but we didn't play well for a lot of the game. We are capable of a lot better than that.
"We just lacked quality today. The effort and commitment was there but we didn't do ourselves justice at times and I was frustrated."
