Southampton left-back Ryan Bertrand felt the game against Sunderland was tough but his side's quality eventually came through in the 1-0 victory.
The England international earned his side the penalty that won the game, and the 26-year-old felt that his side showed their team spirit to pull out the three points in a difficult game.
The former Chelsea man told Sky Sports News: "We knew it was going to be a tough place to come to and it was important that we dug in and competed and hopefully our quality came through which it did in the end.
"It was a very tight game but I felt we were creating chances but perhaps our final pass let us down at times but it was important that we kept going and managed to break them with the penalty.
"It is important that we keep that consistency, keep that work ethic that we showed today and hopefully it keeps going."
The win moves Southampton into seventh in the Premier League table, four points off a top-four position.
Nathan Staples
