Luke Williams | That's a wake-up call for us

Head coach Luke Williams felt Swansea City had been shown the levels they need to reach to challenge at the top of the Championship after suffering a 3-2 defeat at home to Sunderland.

The Swans had led 2-0 inside 17 minutes at the Swansea.com Stadium. Žan Vipotnik opened the scoring with an opportunistic finish from close range, before a stunning free-kick from Liam Cullen doubled the advantage.

But Sunderland got a goal back before the interval through a Dan Ballard header, and then had much the better of the second half.

Dan Neil hammered in an equaliser, and that was rapidly followed by Jobe Bellingham turning in a cross from the right to complete the turnaround for the Black Cats.

The Swans had been on a four-match unbeaten run prior to the defeat.

But Williams felt the manner in which his side responded to being 2-0 up, underlined they have a lot of work to do if they want to be challenging for promotion at the top of the division.

“We had some success in the first half, really trying to establish ourselves on the game, and we managed to do that well enough,” he said.

“But then there was a mentality that we had done enough. We tried to coast across the line for 55 minutes or something. 

“That’s a ridiculous thing to do in a game, but there is a reason for that, in the traits of a top side you do not see that.

“You have to be relentless, the opposition were fighting blow for blow with us in the first half, but in the second 45 minutes they continued and we stopped.

“In that situation, the gap becomes very, very obvious. To be clear, I am talking about the difference between the top sides and the rest of us, and that was what was on show.

“We know where we are, and if we think we think we are going to be a top-six side then we have to realise we have got a way to go.

“It’s a wake up call, without a doubt.”