Southampton boss Dave Jones praised Le Tissier's performance after his side defeated Blackburn 3-0 at home and said it was up to the player himself to force his way back in to the England squad.

"He's worked really hard and seems to be getting back that little half-a-yard of pace where he's getting past players," Jones said.

"I don't think Glenn Hoddle can close the door on anyone because if he does and then players get injured, how can he go back and say to the player he has closed the door on that it is open again.

"Matt has to prove to the England manager that he is worthy of a place. It's down to how much he wants it."

Jones was happy that his side had bounced back from their midweek defeat at the hands of Coventry and said of today's performance that they were at their best.

Yet he conceded: "We rode our luck a little bit as well. The first goal from where I was sitting you could say was offside but we'll take what's given and we've had games in which we've been hard done by.

"I did not see a push for the second goal but, to be fair, when players react in the way they did then something has normally happened."

Blackburn manager Roy Hodgson watched his side fall 11 points behind leaders Manchester United after today's defeat. He said: "It will take some sort of miracle for us to overtake them now."

Blackburn slipped to fifth in the League and had their championship odds lengthened from 12-1 to 20-1 as they became the latest of the title contenders to lose to Saints.

Southampton built on recent victories over Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool with the win over Blackburn at The Dell through two goals from Egil Ostenstad and one from David Hirst.

And Le Tissier also put in an impressive performance on his return to the starting line-up in front of watching England coach Glenn Hoddle.

Hodgson admitted that Southampton had deserved their victory but he was still unhappy at their first two goals - claiming that the first was offside and that the second followed a foul on Colin Hendry.

Southampton's opener, on 19 minutes, came when Le Tissier received the ball just three yards out and passed to the unmarked Ostenstad at the far post and the striker scored into the empty net.

Hodgson said: "It's not often you actually see people hanging around a goalpost behind both the goalkeeper and the defence and scoring goals but the linesman assures me it wasn't offside. Yet I shall be interested to see the TV replay and I thought it was a very clear offside."

Despite the home side's pressure, their second goal did not arrive until the 78th minute, when Hirst turned on a cross and struck his shot past keeper Tim Flowers - with Hendry booked in the aftermath for complaining that he had been fouled during the build-up to the goal.

"Colin is very upset at what he regards was a push," said Hodgson. "But it doesn't excuse the fact that we still conceded the third goal, which I thought was the worst piece of defending from our side during the course of the game.

"But to lose to Southampton at The Dell is not a great surprise these days when they play well."