Chris Lakey Korey Smith left Carrow Road clutching the man of the match champagne on Saturday - but no-one expected too much of that trademark smile to cross his face. The teenage midfielder was pretty much a clear-cut choice for the bubbly, although defeat at home to Southampton left a bitter taste in the mouth for the 19-year-old.

Chris Lakey

Korey Smith left Carrow Road clutching the man of the match champagne on Saturday - but no-one expected too much of that trademark smile to cross his face.

The teenage midfielder was pretty much a clear-cut choice for the bubbly, although defeat at home to Southampton left a bitter taste in the mouth for the 19-year-old.

"It's not about my performance," said Smith. "I am in a team and a squad and the most important thing for me is getting the wins and getting us promoted. Obviously it is really disappointing for us. We didn't play to the best of our ability at all.

"We have just got to move on now. At the end of the day you can't expect to win every single game - but that's what we want to do. But we move on - and we have a match on Tuesday to try and put things right."

Southend come to Carrow Road tomorrow night and Smith knows it's a perfect opportunity to get back on track.

"Hopefully all the lads will be firing and we can make up for today's performance and really put in a good performance and get the win - that's the most important thing," he said.

"It's an excellent opportunity to get back into it straight away, at home, in front of our fans, who have been excellent, so we're looking forward to it."

Defeat isn't easy, especially on only your 30th senior appearance for the club, but Smith, who has been a fixture of Paul Lambert's sides since the manager came in last August, has a safety valve.

"It can be hard, but I have a lot of experienced players around me and they help me through it, and obviously the gaffer, so it is just something that you have to get used to in your career," he said.

Smith could have put the smiles back on everyone's faces seven minutes into the second half when he forced a quality save out of Saints keeper Kelvin Davis - not that he knew too much about it.

"When I struck the shot I think it hit the defender and I just turned to run away because I thought it was going over," he explained. "I just turned around, but then I heard the crowd cheer and I turned round and I saw the goalkeeper scrambling back and making the save and it hit the cross bar."