West Ham's hesitation proved costly in 3-2 defeat to Southampton, admits Nuno

Hammers hesitate and fall behind

West Ham missed the chance to go top of the Championship after losing 3-2 at home to Southampton on Saturday, a result that leaves the Hammers third in the table and Southampton within three points of them.

Kuryu Matsuki and James Bree struck inside the opening 11 minutes to give Southampton a 2-0 lead. Kyle Walker-Peters pulled a goal back soon after, but Lewis Dobbin scored a third for the Saints before half-time. Tomas Soucek grabbed a late consolation in second-half stoppage time, but it was not enough for a comeback.

Nuno points to hesitation

Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was frank about the defeat. "We're disappointed. We started not the way we wanted and we conceded," said Nuno.

"We were looking at the situations with hesitation, bouncing balls, too many chances for Southampton to have a second phase, third phase and achieve a goal. We were not good in that moment, but the reaction was good. After you start playing, you start combining, you create enormous situations."

He praised the response of his players and supporters. "We tried, again, many, many situations that we could have done better. The boys fought till the end. The atmosphere was good. The fans helped us. All of us were having the feeling that we were able to react and revert the game, but it was not to be. It was disappointing."

Swansea thrashed as Middlesbrough go top

The result at London Stadium was part of a busy weekend across the Championship. Second-place Swansea City were thrashed 5-0 by QPR, with Richard Kone scoring a hat-trick after just 15 minutes and Jummy Dunne adding a brace. Kone's hat-trick is the earliest scored in an EFL match (15th minute) since the rebrand in 2004-05.

Those results mean Middlesbrough are top of the league, following their 5-1 rout of Bolton Wanderers on Friday.