Che Adams has the full support of his Saints teammates as he searches for his first goal for the club.

The £15m signing from Birmingham put in an excellent display at Bramall Lane and twice came agonisingly close in the 1-0 win at Sheffield United, hitting the post with a fine strike early on and seeing a superb save from Dean Henderson prevent his header from going in.

But as well as he’s playing that first goal is still proving elusive.

Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “It’s unbelievable.

“The first shot was fantastic and the header was good but that’s something that is special for this team.

“He’s a little bit unlucky and this luck he must work for for his first goal.

“Everybody looks at him and thinks he is working so hard and the moment will come and we will help him. Everybody helps him and that is something special for this team.

“You can see and you can feel that they are working together and this is fantastic.”

Angus Gunn was another who put in a good performance to help ensure a clean sheet.

Hasenhuttl admitted his new coaching set-up with Andrew Sparkes having been recruited to work with the goalkeepers and Dave Watson moved to focus on set-pieces is paying immediate dividends.

“I think we have in the moment with Alex and Angus and the young guys behind a good goalkeeper team. Andrew makes a fantastic job,” reflected the Saints manager.

“I didn’t expect they change their game immediately after bringing Andrew in in the summer but now with Dave with the set-pieces and Andrew the goalkeeper coach it has split it and meant more quality in every part.

“That’s what I feel now that Andrew works very good with the guys and I trust what they are learning. You still need luck in a few situations but when you work hard you deserve this luck.

“We had again a clean sheet and I am very happy with that.”

There was some VAR controversy in the game. Sheffield United had a goal ruled out for a clear offside but felt they should have had a penalty for handball against James Ward-Prowse even though the incident was cleared by the video referee.

“I thought for the offside it’s a fantastic tool because a linesman cannot see this scene so it’s fantastic we have this tool. It makes the game more fair,” said Hasenhuttl.

“When a handball is not a clear wrong decision then it is clear it stays like it was.

“Maybe we were today the team that was lucky with VAR. We will also have moments where we are not lucky so it should make the game more fair and I think it did it today and I am very happy the way the VAR works and how we have this tool.”