Martin on Armstrong: ‘He’s a Geordie so he would have enjoyed that win’

SAINTS boss Rus­sell Mar­tin was “delight­ed” with Adam Arm­strong’s per­for­mance in their 4–2 win over Sun­der­land on Sat­ur­day.

The goal was his 18th strike of the sea­son, the sec­ond most in the Cham­pi­onship behind Black­burn Rovers Sam­mie Szmod­ics (21 goals).

The New­cas­tle-born for­ward dou­bled Saints lead from the spot, smash­ing the ball down the mid­dle, before cel­e­brat­ing in from of the away fans.

The 27 year old was also involved in Southamp­ton’s third and fourth, scored by his for­mer Black­burn team­mate Joe Roth­well.

READ MORE: ‘Amaz­ing fin­ish­er’ — Mar­tin hails Roth­well after super-sub brace against Sun­der­land

Speak­ing to the Dai­ly Echo, Mar­tin said: “Adam was amaz­ing, he’s a bril­liant play­er. He’s a Geordie so he would have enjoyed that one.

“He played on the left and the right even though num­ber nine is his best posi­tion. He is so reli­able. He tried to square it for Che for the third goal and Roth­well got on the end of that.

“I’m real­ly delight­ed with him. We all felt hurt after the first game against them. It was a nice feel­ing to win and come back from the dif­fi­cult moment we had in the game. 

“I feel like we deserved it. I don’t think any­one can watch the game and say that we did­n’t deserve to win.”

Arm­strong has now been involved in 29 goals this sea­son — 18 goals and 11 assists — the joint high­est in the top four Eng­lish divi­sions along­side Notts Coun­ty’s Macaulay Langstaff.

Southamp­ton are back in action against Mid­dles­bor­ough on Sat­ur­day, March  29 after an extend­ed inter­na­tion­al break.