Southampton midfielder Mario Lemina says there are no excuses after their 3-1 defeat to Newcastle.

Lemina was Saints' goalscorer on the day.

“We're disappointed, because we didn't do well in the first half and that's made the difference," Lemina reflected.

“We tried to change the game to give our best in the second half, but it was not enough because we missed a lot of chances.

"We started the second half two goals down, which was really hard but we kept going to give our best."

The midfielder's well-taken curling shot did offer a souvenir of sorts for the Gabonese international, who was making his first appearance of 2019 after injury.

“I was happy, but we were still one goal down and I was thinking more about how we could score the second one," he added.

“Instead they scored the third goal and the game was gone."