Russell Martin | Individual errors cost us, but I was really happy with the performance

1st November
First team
Russell Martin shouts instructions

Head coach Russell Martin praised Swansea City’s performance in their 1-0 defeat to Preston North End, but admitted that individual errors ended up costing them.

Brad Potts’ goal on the half-hour mark was the difference as the home side pounced on a defensive mistake, with the defender firing home a rebound after Steven Benda had denied Emil Riis.

But Swansea created plenty of chances, particularly in a second half they dominated.

It took two big saves from Lilywhites' keeper Freddie Woodman to deny Jay Fulton and Ryan Manning, while Harry Darling and Joel Piroe were unable to make the most of headed opportunities.

The defeat was only Swansea's third in their last dozen games, and despite the good run the Swans boss admitted his team will still have to go through some “painful moments”, but will have no issues if they perform in the manner that saw them control long spells of the contest at Deepdale.

“I thought we were brilliant,” said Martin.

“We’ve paid for a mistake which was a moment of sloppiness. Harry [Darling has] been great recently, he’ll bounce back no problem, but with young players sometimes - we’ve spoken about it before - you have these moments of pain but it's about the way they bounce back from that.

“Mistakes hurt us tonight but we were brilliant. Freddie Woodman’s had to make three or four outstanding saves. It was just attack after attack in the second half.

“We paid for some individual mistakes. We had a couple of players who weren’t as sharp as they have been, but when you have a lot of young players that happens.

“So I’m frustrated that we didn’t score, we deserved to, but to come away from home and be that dominant and aggressive in the second half is outstanding, but we’ve given a team something to hang on to and that’s the most frustrating bit really.

“We are really frustrated at the result, but I can’t be too unhappy with the performance.”