United boss Paul Buckle was rightly pleased with his team's efforts in the penalty shoot-out defeat to Southampton in the second round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy: 'There were a number of good things to come out of this game but that has been the case for most of the season. The story continues really in some ways because I thought we deserved to win tonight, we have come to a fantastic stadium and competed against a good side that had us under a lot of pressure at times but I thought we created the better chances over the ninety minutes. The penalty was a big turning point, from where I was stood it looked like a goal scoring opportunity and the letter of the law says it's a red card. I don't want to see Kelvin (Davis) sent off but if it is the correct decision that needs to be made then it should happen.

'Our shape was good and there some fabulous performances, especially in the middle of the park but we must take this forward to a massive league game on Sunday. We have struggled to find the net in recent weeks and with Kieran Charnock available again it gave us the opportunity to play a 3-4-3 formation. I thought the formation worked quite well, we contained Southampton and from that we knew we could cause them some problems from set plays and we found ourselves two up but it wasn't enough in the end.

'It is a case now of lifting the players again but we have come here tonight and put in a performance and we must do it again on Sunday. We worked very hard to get out of the Conference and to take part in a game like this one is a massive progression for the club and we have given a good account of ourselves. There is real competition for places for the Notts County game and that is a nice problem to have, a few players have staked a claim this evening with their performance.

'I feel for the players again but we have got to keep going, it is three games now unbeaten from open play against some good sides and there are a lot of positives for me to take from this.'