Under-fire Southampton boss Nigel Adkins vows to fight on

Nigel Adkins vowed to "lead from the front" after Southampton slumped to a 2-0 defeat at West Brom on Monday night.

Defensive woes

Adkins felt Southampton were unlucky with Peter Odemwingie's first goal with the striker handling the ball in the build-up to the goal, but he admitted they need to improve their defending if they are to have any chance of staying up. "We have gone and lost the game," added Adkins. "The first goal Mike Dean (the fourth official) is screaming down the mic that it's handball (against Peter Odemwingie) four or five times but he didn't pick it up. "The second half we had a little better of the football than we did in the first half, but the goal we conceded was a poor one. "We knew they were good on the counter. We gave the ball away too quickly." Adkins continued: "Our desire to defend our goal has to better but unfortunately this season we have conceded far too many goals. "Collectively we have to be forward thinking. We work hard on the training ground and we want that stability in the back four and our goalkeeper. We can score goals."