Coady "proud" of Jimenez's return

Conor Coady was immensely proud of his teammate and friend Raul Jimenez at Southampton on Sunday, as the striker put almost 10 months of recovery behind him by firing home the Wolves winner.

And what a goal it was as well, as the striker outmuscled Jan Bednarek, turned the defender back again, before finishing calmy, and few inside St Mary’s celebrated with more passion than the Mexican’s captain. Having watched first-hand Jimenez’s battle to this point, Coady showed his delight when speaking post-match, where he reiterated that no faith was ever lost in the striker.

On Jimenez’s moment arriving

“I’m just so, so proud of what he’s gone through, what he’s done, how he’s got through it, the character he’s shown, the bravery, the courage, and his goal was the same old Raul. It’s something we became accustomed to before he got injured.

“The injury hit everybody hard, so to see him score again is absolutely incredible and he really deserves it. He works so, so hard in training every week, he’s been working on his finishing since he’s been back, and what a goal it was.”

On always keeping faith in the striker

“There was no question marks from our behalf. We believe in him no matter what, he’s one of the best strikers in the world in our eyes, we’re so lucky to have him at this football club. We saw how he went about it, a tap in, anything he would have got would have been massive for us, but to score a goal like that shows his quality.

“I’ve never once looked at him and thought he wasn’t the same Raul. He goes into training every day and gives 100 per cent and gives the best of himself every day, like everybody does in our dressing room. He’s an absolute pleasure to work with and we’re lucky to have him.”

On a much-needed win

“It’s huge, we wanted to build on the Watford game when we won and didn’t manage to do it, so it was massive for us. We knew what we had to do. Last week wasn’t good enough, and we’ve probably played better than we did on Sunday and lost games, so this gives us real belief in what we’re doing and hopefully we can take it into the week moving forward.”

On a brilliant away following

“I speak about our supporters all the time, they’re the best set of supporters around, they don’t shut up, they keep going all game, and they push us that extra 10 per cent everywhere. The last year, I can’t tell you how much we missed them, so to have them back now is incredible.”

On not looking at the table

“I’ll be honest, it’s hard to look at the table at this moment in time, there’s not much going on. You’re here to win games, to improve, it’s early on in the season. You look and it can put you in a position in your head where you’re not happy, so we’re just trying to improve and are giving the best of ourselves every day to improve and we’ll keep on doing that to help this football club.”