SAINTS boss Ralph Hasenhuttl was delighted by the way his side responded from a “disaster” first 30 minutes, to earn a priceless point at Premier League big guns Chelsea.

Timo Werner’s quickfire double inside the opening 28 minutes at Stamford Bridge looked to have set the St Mary’s side on the path to defeat in London.

Danny Ings and Che Adams brought Hasenhuttl’s side level – only for Kai Havertz to cap a slick Chelsea move to make it 3-2 just before the hour mark.

But Saints dug in and threw everything at Frank Lampard’s men late on – with Jannik Vestergaard’s flick finding the net in stoppage time to earn a 3-3 draw.

Assessing the contest as a whole, Hasenhuttl said: “The first half was a disaster, especially the first 30 minutes.

“The first half was far away from what we want to play, or how we want to play but I think we showed a tough fight, a really hard fight and the players never stopped believing in us.

“For this I have to praise them, because they did a fantastic job.

“We organised ourselves a little bit better in the half-time.

“In the end I think, especially because of the second half, it was a deserved point. In the second half we had been the better team I think.

“We believed in what we are doing.”

The draw moves Saints on to seven points from their past three Premier League fixtures, following up wins against Burnley and West Bromwich Albion.

Asked whether he felt his side could still get their reward in stoppage time, Austrian boss Hasenhuttl replied: “Yeah, definitely. We were so dominant in the second half, we had the better chances. We were much more compact and aggressive, winning balls a lot in the opposition half.

“We had a few good transitions where we could score more than three times.

“In the end you needed a bit of luck and a set-piece.

“Against a strong side, getting a point here is definitely not easy. I think it was more than deserved.”