Paterson will learn from dismissal - Davis

Southampton captain Kelvin Davis believes Matt Paterson will learn from the red card shame that cost them any chance of an FA Cup upset against Manchester United.

The Saints were already a goal down to Danny Welbeck’s 19th minute opener before Paterson was red-carded by referee Mike Riley for a lunge on United defender Nemanja Vidic.

Southampton head coach Jan Poortvliet was upset by Riley’s decision to dismiss the 19-year-old eight minutes before the interval but United manager Alex Ferguson claimed the youngster paid the price for his “over-enthusiasm”.

But Davis, who kept the scoreline down with a string of superb saves, said: “When you go down to 10 men against Manchester United then you know it is going to be very tough.

“But he is a young lad and hopefully he will learn from it. He went for a ball that maybe wasn’t there to be won but he is an honest lad and certainly would not have meant to hurt anyone.”