That may have had something to do with the omission of Elliot Ward through injury, but Roger is quick to point out that his replacement, Tommy Laws, had an admirable performance in his first 90 minutes for the second string.
"He is only 16 and I am very happy with how he played," says Roger.
"He had a run against Nottingham Forest last week and has now played a full game which he didn't expect - and he is all the better for it.
"As for Elliot, we are very disappointed to lose him; he has been playing well alongside Anton Ferdinand and we were all quite excited about their performances."
Roger does point out that it was a very young side against a much more experienced Southampton side, explaining:
"We had Tommy alongside Anton Ferdinand, Phil Lumsden, Daryl McMahon, Leon Britton, Youssef, and finished with Cole and Mehmet.
"They had the likes of Kevin Davies, Jo Tessem, Francis Benali, Andrei Kanchelskis, Paul Williams, and Gary Monk."
Kanchelskis opened the scoring after 25" after picking up the ball in the middle and outstripping Phil Lumsden for pace; Davies made it 2-0 for the Saints on 12 minutes; and Don Hutchison gave away a penalty for Davies to convert on 18 minutes.
"It was an unnecessary penalty to give away," says Roger, "and gave us a mountain to climb.
"But it was good to see Don get a full game under his belt.
"After the break we changed the system, stopped the flow, and we were the better side - but I am disappointed we lost the defensive record."
As for first team matter, Roger thinks that the draw against Manchester United could lead to the league position improving soon, and says:
"I hope we have turned the corner, and the longer the game went on the more I thought we would win.
"We need to take it to Aston Villa and got to war with them when the players cross the white line.
"Then hopefully when we play Aston Villa at home we will get a win."
Indeed; a 3-0 defeat would be too much to contemplate...
TEAM: Forde, Byrne, Lumsden, Hutchison, Ferdinand, Laws, Britton, Rahim, Sofiane [Cole], Garcia, McMahon [Mehmet].
Subs unused: Jackson, Carrick, Khan, Bluett.