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"I think we deserved to win the game," Wotte said. "In the first half we were the much better team, created some good chances and scored some good goals. We had three chances to make it 3-1 with Wright-Phillips, Simon Gillett and the penalty from David McGoldrick.
"We allowed them to score the second goal after a bad decision from the referee but at the end of the day we didn't take our chances and that's why we didn't win. We've seen this before of course, and it is not the first time this has happened to us."
Wotte continued: "I can only be proud of my players and how they performed. They were very competitive and aggressive and tried to pass when it was possible and scored some great goals.
"I think it was one of our best performances at home this season but the fact that we didn't win this game showed the reasons why we are going down. You have to take your chances and be clinical up front to really secure the win.
"It's unfortunate and I really feel sorry for the boys because everybody was giving 100 percent and they played a terrific game with an excellent team spirit. You can't blame the players for not winning. You can blame them for making mistakes and not taking chances, but everybody did what they ha to do and it is so unfortunate.
"If you see the last ten months I think there are six or seven games where we really played better than the other team and you are hoping for the 2-1, 3-1, 4-1 and suddenly they score and it's 2-2 and you give away two points."
Owen Coyle was far from happy with our performance, particularly in the first half when we twice fell behind although he felt the situation at Southampton probably helped them.
"I didn't think the situation in the week helped us in any way, I have to say. "Coyle admitted after seeing us take our points tally to 73.
"If I was the manager here, my motivation would have been in trying to get those six points so that any point deduction would happen this year. They certainly covered every blade of grass for the club, but there was a lot I was annoyed about at half time and I made sure the players knew that.
"We are not good enough to just flick a switch and think we can just turn up and play when it suits us. The players know how passionate I am about this football club and how much I want to win matches, but it shouldn't take the manager to come in at half time to say one or two things.
"I have a terrific group of players and they fell below the standards we expect, but their response was all about courage and bravery. The second half was a lot better and the penalty was the big turning point.
"From there we picked it up again and scored a good equaliser, and at 2-2 we had to gilt edged chances to win the game. Over the ninety minutes that might have been a travesty for Southampton but we showed that, even when we are not playing well, we can hang in there."
He added: "I wanted the job done here today and put the job to bed. That would have saved me a few grey hairs next week, but these players have been nothing short of remarkable. They keep giving all they have got and as a manager that is a big, big boost ahead of next week.
"We wanted the three points to make sure of the play off place. As it is, it will go to the last week and we will make sure we are ready for it. We have a home game against Bristol City that we will prepare for and approach in a professional manner."