Unai Emery was happy with the impact that the replacements of Aston Villa had when they sealed a 3-0 win over Southampton in the Premier League.
Villa had difficulty breaking their hosts, but Ollie Watkins, Donyell Malen and John McGinn all came from the bank to score late in the second half.
Watkins and McGinn also won punishments, but Marco Asensio was refused on both occasions from 12 Yards by Aaron Ramsdale.
Villa has now scored 10 goals this season through replacements in the Premier League, with five of those strikes in their last three games.
And after achieving a fourth consecutive victory in the top flight, Emery pointed out how the players who came up played an important role in expanding that run.
“We respect them [Southampton]”Emery told Premier League Productions.” We did not admit any transitions in the first half. We dominated, but we didn't have many opportunities to score.
“The second half was the game plan the same, and with the fast players we could add to try more and more, and we did that. It was a fantastic 90 minutes. The subs had a very good impact.
“We had a few moments in this season without players who were injured, and we had no consistent 90 -minute versions because we didn't have the players.
“Of course we were reinforced in January with four players, and the result is that it makes us more competitive.”
In the meantime, Southampton dropped to their 26th defeat of the campaign, their most losses in a single season in every division.
Their relegation to the championship was confirmed after their defeat against Tottenham last weekend, with Ivan Juric shortly thereafter resigned as Southampton Boss.
The saints had resolutely defended on Saturday, which limited the villa to half chances, but they could not keep it in the final phase.
Intermediate boss Simon Rusk, who will see Dugout for the rest of the season, insisted that his team was positive to take despite the loss.
“I think we have something to build for us. The first goal came in the 73rd minute, but we had a clean slate until then,” he told BBC match of the day.
“We were good at stake. We were disappointed about the nature of the goal we admitted, but I am going to take a lot for that game.
“The players have given everything. We can bounce in our next game. I think we can continue to work hard.
“We treat the last six games as we have treated the first six games. We played at a top team today, but we were solid. We have to keep our conviction.”
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