Praise for 'Naughts'

Tim Sherwood and Michael Dawson praised the character of Kyle Naughton after Sunday's victory against Southampton.

The full-back was at fault for both goals as the Saints raced into a 2-0 lead at the Lane.

But as both Head Coach Tim and club captain Michael pointed out, Kyle ‘didn’t hide’ - and was soon at the other end of the pitch providing the cross that led to Christian Eriksen reducing the deficit to 2-1.

That proved a turning point as Christian levelled the scores just after the break and Gylfi Sigurdsson completed the turn around in the final seconds.

“I’ve played at the Lane many times and when you mistake, you feel the pressure,” said Michael. “One thing I’ll say about Naughts is that he’ll never shirk away. I give him so much respect for that.

“We all make mistakes and he would have been on edge but he didn’t hide, he was always honest. He’s great lad, funny, bubbly. Obviously he was a little quieter after the game but he showed a lot of character and you have to.”

Tim added: “He made two errors, they scored two goals  but he still put himself on offer, he didn’t hide, he got back out there and that typified what I want to see from our players, in adversity, he come out and stood up to be counted.”