MANAGER Russell Martin revealed the PGMOL held a meeting with Saints bosses as Howard Webb defended "correct" VAR decisions at Wolves.

Saints were beaten in their last Premier League outing before the international break, as Wolves climbed off the bottom of the table at their expense.

They did so with the benefit of two controversial VAR decisions at Molineux. Firstly and chiefly, by ruling out Ryan Manning's first-half equaliser. 

Secondly, Mateus Cunha's goal for the hosts - which made it 2-0 - should have been ruled out for a foul on Cameron Archer in the build-up. 

Referee chief Webb held a talk with Martin and Saints ownership, after already acknowledging an officiating mistake in the defeat to Leicester this season.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool, Martin revealed: "As a club, we had a meeting with them with the owners involved and the chief executive.

PGMOL boss Howard Webb met with Saints staff after the Wolves clashPGMOL boss Howard Webb met with Saints staff after the Wolves clash (Image: PA)

"I have to say, it's not an easy job for Howard Webb. I think he does it well. I still have an issue with the goal and a foul in the second goal.

"I also have an issue with him coming out and saying it's the correct decision. I think if we're going to improve VAR then we have to have real honesty.

"For it to come out as a correct decision in the match review after is frustrating to me, but it is still subjective, right?

"On the second goal, they should take longer to analyse the foul from Craig Dawson because it is a foul. They let us hear all of the audio and watch it again.

"The first goal is open to interpretation, maybe. Ryan Manning's goal, I mean. But I still think it's the wrong decision because it's not clear and obvious.

"I've been told a few times this season with a few decisions we have been on the wrong end of that it has to be a clear and obvious error.

"I'm not sure it is for Ryan's goal so we're going to disagree on that forever. It's happened. It is what it is. As I said, Howard's not in an easy position.

"He accepted a lot of our points, and we have to accept a lot of his because it's not easy. But I think it was important for us to have a chat.

"I'd love it to go back to a bit of human error and balance it out. I think if you still make a mistake after the process of that, it becomes even more frustrating."

Martin was keen to move on and look ahead to the upcoming schedule, which sees Saints play eight times in the Premier League before the new year.

Their next five matches are all against top-half opposition, with a clash against league leaders Liverpool at St Mary's on Sunday, November 24.

"We showed the guys the Premier League table last season and how it looked at this point and how much it changed by the end of December," said Martin.

"Honestly, it's such an exciting month. People talk about the difficulty of the games and the level of competition we face in the next four or five games.

"It's what we all work so hard for and we should be excited about the challenge. Teams have shown in recent weeks that you can pick up results against big teams.

"Our level of performance against the teams at the top of the table has been good. We just need to take it a step further and pick up a result."