Southampton Coach Hails Onuachu Despite Palace Draw

Southampton coach Ivan Juric singled out Paul Onuachu for praise despite what he called a cruel ending to their 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace in a Premier League match at the St Mary’s Stadium on Wednesday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Onuachu opened the scoring for the Saints in the 20th minute of the game with a towering header, and they seemed to be getting close to their third Premier League win of the season until Matheus Franca pegged them back with a stoppage-time goal.

It was Onuachu’s second consecutive goal in the EPL after scoring in their 2-1 defeat against Wolves before the international break.

In 20 appearances this season, the striker now has four goals and one assist in the English top-flight, earning the praises of his under-pressure boss.

“Onuachu was really good when he is full of energy, he can be really good, he did good work,” Juric told BBC Match of the Day.

Reflecting on the draw and their looming relegation, Juric was satisfied with Onuachu and his teammates, noting that the result was not fair to them.

“It’s a really cruel ending because everybody [thinks] we’re controlling the game, that we are good, and it’s really a pity not to win this game,” he said via the club’s website.

“I’m really sorry for the guys because they deserved the victory, to win the match, but the performance, I’m very satisfied with the performance.

“We controlled the match, in every moment. When we go to press, we press and we steal the ball, and when we are low block and waiting a little bit, we are tough, we are good. I think in both of these situations, we were good. We did some really good things moving the ball, I think we can do it much better; we made some stupid mistakes in the middle, we can do it better in some moments and we will work to get better in the next game.”

Southampton are destined to return to the Championship next season, currently bottom of the table with just 10 points after 30 games