Nuno Espirito Santo: "Our hesitation cost us dearly"

Nuno Espirito Santo said his side's hesitancy proved decisive as West Ham fell to a 3-2 defeat against Southampton.

Beaten 3-2 by Southampton on home soil, West Ham missed the chance to go top of the Championship.

Goals from Kuryu Matsuki and James Bree within the first 11 minutes put Southampton 2-0 up. Kyle Walker-Peters pulled one back, but Lewis Dobbin restored the visitors' two-goal advantage in the closing moments of the first half.

Tomas Soucek's strike in second-half stoppage time proved only a consolation for West Ham and was not enough to spark a comeback. The result sees the London club slip to third in the table.

Reflecting on the match afterwards, Nuno said: "We are disappointed. We didn't start the way we wanted and we conceded early goals. We hesitated in situations; the loose balls allowed Southampton to build second and third phases of attack and find the goal. We weren't good in those moments, but our reaction afterwards was positive. When you start to impose your game and pass the ball, you create big chances. We had a lot of attempts, and we could have done better. My players fought until the very end, and the atmosphere was very good. Our fans gave us great support. We all believed we could turn it around, but we didn't manage it, and that is really disappointing."

With this crucial win, Southampton cut the gap to West Ham to 3 points, while second-placed Swansea City suffered a heavy 5-0 defeat at QPR.

QPR's Richard Kone stole the show by completing a hat-trick within the first 15 minutes, while Jimmy Dunne chipped in with 2 goals to help seal the win. Kone's performance went into the record books as the earliest hat-trick (15th minute) scored in an EFL match since the league's 2004-05 rebrand.

Following these results, Middlesbrough, who beat Bolton Wanderers 5-1 on Friday, are the new league leaders.