SAINTS midfielder Oriol Romeu was pleased to see James Ward-Prowse make an immediate impact on his return to the side.

Ward-Prowse, recalled for his first game in more than a month, got Saints off to the perfect start with the free kick that led to the opening goal.

Romeu said: “It was an amazing free kick, it’s great to have players with that touch. Every time he’s good from free kicks and corner kicks.

“We know there’s going to be a nice ball and a chance to score whenever he’s on the pitch.

"We know we can always attack the cross because it’s going to be a good delivery.

“It’s good for other players having him in the team, he works very hard and has that ability.”

But Saints' failure to take all three points has made a win against Burnley on Saturday even more important.

“It’s something we need to learn from,” continued Romeu. “After scoring that quick, we needed to take more initiative to run with the ball and keep going forward.

“It was probably a fair result. At half time we said to push higher but we dropped too much. We have to get three points next week ideally. We need to be higher in the table and to do that we have to win games.”