SOUTHAMPTON boss Russell Martin has told of his admiration for Sunderland and their "talented" crop of players but believes the Black Cats lost momentum in the Championship promotion race after "paying the price" for their managerial changes.

Martin saw Sunderland at their very best earlier this season when the Black Cats thumped his Southampton side 5-0 at the Stadium of Light, but Saints gained revenge with a 4-2 victory when the sides met again at St Mary's on Saturday.

It was a sixth straight defeat for Sunderland, who are now 11 points shy of the top six and continue to struggle in the absence of star man Jack Clarke.

"I feel they have such a talented squad, a very young squad," said Martin when asked for his assessment of the Black Cats and how they've changed since the first game between the sides in September.

"Jack Clarke makes them a very different proposition. I think he's one of the best players in the league so when he's not in the team they're a different proposition. That's not being disrespectful because I think they're a really good team and not a one-man team.

"His numbers are huge and what he does for the team, gets them up the pitch and has that fear factor.

"I really like them as a team, really really like them. They've paid the price a bit with a lack of momentum with the managerial changes but that's their prerogative."

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Martin couldn't believe his side made such hard work of the win on Saturday having dominated the first half but was delighted to get over the line.

"It's a weird one because we should have been out of sight at half-time is my feeling," he said.

"We let them have one shot inside the box that hit the post. The rest I think pretty much in the whole game came from outside the box. It was frustrating because I spoke to the players before the game about them having the most goals from outside the box in the league, they have a lot of players who are very talented from distance.

"The second goal is brilliant, the first is so scrappy it's not good enough from us. But we paid the price for the lack of a clinical touch and conviction in the first half because we had so many chances.

"They came with such an aggressive press and when we got it right it was brilliant. The rhythm of the game changed so quickly it was almost like a counter attack. But we need to make them pay. We score a set-piece and then a penalty but it shouldn't have taken that. We were behind the press and beating it and were 4 vs 3 and 3 vs 3 on so many occasions, we needed to make more of that.

"Credit to Sunderland, they were great, they kept at it and when I started to feel they were getting a bit tired, they score. And then they manage to maintain their energy, they were really aggressive with their press. We just didn't cut it open, the distances became too big, there was a bit of tension around the stadium, which I understand.

"Then it meant the subs had to come on and have a big impact, which they did. All of a sudden we were breaking behind again, the third and fourth goals were brilliant.

"I'm really delighted we win, I'm furious and frustrated we conceded two goals but we came through it and it's a big win."

Martin said the win also meant a lot to ex-Newcastle striker Adam Armstrong, who scored a controversial penalty for Southampton when Sunderland's players claimed he touched the ball twice after slipping.

"He's a brilliant player. He's a Geordie, so he'll have enjoyed that," said Martin.

"I'm sure he'll have enjoyed that today. We all felt hurt after the first game. It was a nice feeling today and I think we deserved it. I don't think anyone can watch that and say we didn't deserve to win."