Southampton boss Ronald Koeman was delighted as his side stole a late point in their 1-1 Premier League draw against Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Villa broke the deadlock just before the half-hour mark as Gabriel Agbonlahor collected Ciaran Clark's long ball forward and beat the advancing Fraser Forster to the ball, sliding it into an empty net to end Southampton's four-match clean-sheet run in the league.
The visitors equalised after 81 minutes as Nathaniel Clyne collected Ryan Bertrand's cross and slotted the ball past Brad Guzan to claim a share of the spoils.
Koeman told Sky Sports 1: "We had a good team to win to tonight but after going 1-0 down, in an attacking way we didn't have the freshness to create the opportunities what we normally have.
"If you score that late [in a] 1-1 [draw] then I think you can be happy with the result at the end, but we missed some freshness and some qualities and it was difficult because at 1-0 -- the misunderstanding defensively -- it was more difficult.
"It was completely a misunderstanding in defence. But it's football, we're human people and we can make mistakes, but after going 1-0 down it was more difficult.''
Koeman's side face a testing month ahead that brings games against Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Everton and Chelsea.
The Saints also have to play four games in nine days over Christmas including league fixtures on Boxing Day and New Year's Day before the FA Cup third round on the first weekend in January.
He added: "It's a nice week to play and we live game to game and of course, it's three big teams but as I said before the game, every game is a battle, every game is difficult.
"Aston Villa had some key players injured and maybe they were more dangerous, it was difficult and we didn't reach our level. We need that to be competitive against City for Sunday.''