Vokes wants to see a better response

The loss at the St Mary’s Stadium carried a similar tone to the reversal against Leicester City last month when Sean Dyche’s side conceded in quick succession against the Premier League champions.

In similar fashion, with Islam Slimani giving the Foxes the advantage with goals either side of half-time at the King Power Stadium, the Saints put the game to bed early in the second half.

After former Turf Moor favourite Charlie Austin opened the scoring from close range in the 52nd minute, the hosts extended their lead just eight minutes later through Nathan Redmond.

Austin then rounded off the scoring for the home side in the 66th minute from the penalty spot after Johann Berg Gudmundsson had brought down Sam McQueen.

Vokes, who scored a consolation from the spot in the 72nd minute, said:

“It was a disappointing result. We came in at half-time very happy with our first half performance but we needed to be a bit wiser in the second half.

“We went 2-0 down early on and it was an uphill battle from there.

“It’s something that we need to work on. We can’t go through the season doing that.

“Obviously we’ve been to some tough places but that is what the Premier League is about.

“You get punished if you’re not ready so we need to look at that and work on it.

“We need to manage games and stay in them for longer. If you can nick one it’s all well and good but you’ve just got to stay in games for as long as possible.”

The Clarets were once again unaided by the match officials as Mike Dean failed to punish Virgil Van Dijk for a clumsy challenge on Icelandic international Gudmundsson inside the area with the score goal-less.

And Vokes feels that the incident was a pivotal moment in the Premier League fixture.

“I’ve not seen it back but the boys were saying in the dressing room after the game that it was a cert in the first half. I thought at the time it was because he’s not one to go down untouched,” he said.

“It is what it is, he didn’t give it, and then they managed to get one.

“It’s late on in the second half so if we get a penalty and go 1-0 up it’s a different game because we go in ahead at half-time.

“That said, it wasn’t given and we had to sort ourselves out at the break. I thought we were in a good position at half-time but it wasn’t to be.”