Salisu: Own goal for Ghanaian centre-back in Southampton’s pre-season friendly

Ghanaian defender Mohammed Salisu was unlucky to fire into his own net as Southampton handed Swansea City a 3-1 defeat in a pre-season fixture on Saturday.

The centre-back mistakenly diverted Liam Cullen’s cross into his own net to hand the Jack Army the lead in the 15th minute.

However, goals from Nathan Tella, Nathan Redmond and Stuart Armstrong turned things around for The Saints.

“It was a good game, I think, and we scored three good goals,” he said. “It’s a pity that we conceded one. It was a mistake from Sali [Salisu], but okay,” Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said after the match, as reported by his club's official website.

“We are in pre-season and I must say that we are physically in good condition. The last freshness was not there, but overall it was a good performance.

“We dropped the speed a little bit in the last 30 minutes. We had a few good chances, yes, but I hope that we can find the next gear and push them a little bit more.

“It was not enough for me, but after the week they’ve worked hard, and yesterday we didn’t really respect the game today because we still worked hard, so it’s okay.”

Salisu played for 60 minutes in Saturday’s tie.

At the time of his substitution, The Saints had already found a way back into the game as they led 3-1.

“I think it was really good,” Southampton right-back Kyle Walker-Peters remarked.

“We’ve been working on a few new tactics in training, and I think today we really showed that we’re getting used to them and starting to gel more as a team within those tactics, so it was a positive result.

“It’s a great feeling. You want to create that winning environment and that’s what we’re doing here, so long may it continue.

“We’ve been working on keeping clean sheets, which, as a defender like myself, is very important. We were glad to get the clean sheet in the last game. Today it was a bit unlucky for Sali [Salisu], but we’ll let it slide!”

Southampton are set to face Spanish sides Levante and Athletic Bilbao on August 4 and 7 respectively ahead of the start of the new Premier League season, which will be the Ghanaian’s second for The Saints following his move from La Liga fold Real Valladolid last summer.