Southampton defender Jan Bednarek was delighted to see action in their FA Cup win over Fulham.

Drafted in at right-back after injuries to Cédric and Jérémy Pied, the defender produced a morale-boosting showing as Saints advanced at the expense of Fulham.

"The most important part was just to reach the next round and give 100%. We haven't won for a while and played poorly last time out so it was important to be one team and play together. The fans helped us very well.

"We have to go step by step and stick together to reach our goals. The result was the most important thing here, more so than how we did it. We struggled in some moments of the game but we deserved to win."

Today's full 90 minutes was his first appearance since August and the youngster was keen to embrace his first-team opportunity.

"I was calm because I have been working hard for this opportunity," he concluded. "I was patient and showed to the coach that I was ready. I did my job, kept a clean sheet so I'm happy."