Saints stars hit by crisis - Wotte

08 April 2009 07:56
A fantastic last-minute free-kick from centre-half Jan-Paul Saeijs - his second goal of the game - gave Southampton a point in their battle against relegation from the Championship, hours after learning they had not been deducted 10 points for going into administration. Confusion lingers over the club's immediate fate, after the Football League called for an independent report into their financial position - with Saints still two points adrift of safety and just five matches left. Wotte said: "We lost to Charlton on Saturday because of the club going into administration. "We should have won. But footballers are also human beings and they are affected. "I thought I could keep the players' minds off it. But we had a very honest meeting on Sunday, and I realised some of the players have been at the club since they were seven or eight years old and are really badly affected. "Their families are all fans, and subconsciously it affects you. But tonight they showed they can deal with it and stay focused, and our experienced players will help us through. "No one doubts that we can stay up. We need 51, 52 points - and that is doable. That is my job; that is all I can do - and let's hope that the administrator can do his job." Wotte received a phone call during his preparations for the match at Vicarage Road which confirmed no immediate point deduction. "We learned that we weren't going to lose 10 points and we had to send a message to the Championship that Southampton are alive and kicking - and we did that," he added. "We had more and more attacking players on the pitch; you have to be lucky - and we were. It was an amazing free-kick, but then we could have lost straightaway as well." Saeijs headed the Saints ahead early on, but goals in either half from Aleksandrs Cauna and Tamas Priskin looked to have sent the visitors a step closer to the drop. The defender then stepped up from 30 yards and - to general amazement - swung a fabulous free-kick over the wall and into the top corner. Watford boss Brendan Rodgers admitted his side were below par but has no doubts the Hornets are continuing their improvement. The former Chelsea reserve boss has sympathy for the Saints. He said: "It's a very difficult situation, and it's sad for them. The Premier League is heaven for a lot of clubs, but it's actually hell for some of them. "You look at Charlton, Forest and Southampton at the bottom of our league - and they were all up there a few years ago. As for his own team, Rodgers continues to be heartened. "We weren't at our best, but I was pleased with our character," he said. "We had to fight and show the attributes we now have. Earlier this season, we would have lost that game. "But the guy has pulled out a fabulous free-kick - sensational technique - and there is nothing you can do about that. "We won't go down, there is no question about that. I'm looking upwards, and we want to finish as high as we can and get some momentum to take into next season. "The players are buying into the project we have here, and you can see the progress we are making."

Source: Team_Talk