Vitor Matos | We all know we can do better

Head coach Vitor Matos felt mistakes at key moments had proved the difference after watching his Swansea City side suffer a last-gasp defeat to Southampton at the Swansea,com Stadium.

In a full-blooded encounter, the Swans had led through Marko Stamenic’s close-range finish at the interval. 

The promotion-chasing Saints – unbeaten in 18 games heading in this contest – levelled through a Shea Charles goal, and then got the winner in the final seconds of the 90 when Cameron Archer volleyed home.

It was harsh on the Swans, who had chances of their own late on through Goncalo Franco and Gustavo Nunes, but Matos felt it was errors in key moments that had been costly for the hosts.

“It was not the result we wanted, and performance wise we know we can do better, and we need to do better, and I think this is something we all feel,” he said.

“We had good moments against a really good team. We started the game well, it was important for us to be organised at the moments when they forced us deep.

“There were good spells, but we needed to make a bit more of those good spells because that was the best way for us to try to control the game.

“Again we had good moments in the second half, but it was then down to mistakes that cost us goals and cost us situations, and we know we need to do better with that, and that’s one thing we have to do better for the future.”

Matos also felt his side should have been playing against 10 men for the majority of the afternoon after Flynn Downes was only booked for a challenge that saw him catch Liam Cullen square in the face with his elbow.

Downes was replaced by Charles at the interval, with the substitute scoring Southampton’s equaliser, while the Swans were also aggrieved that a pull on Jisung Eom’s shirt by Nathan Wood went unpunished as the South Korea international burst into the area.

“From the position I was in, I thought it was a clear elbow,” Matos said of the challenge on Cullen.

“I was also close to the fourth official, and maybe they had a different opinion of it but I would hope that when they review it they understand the impact it had on the game as the player who comes on scores the goal.

“We also had a situation where it could have been a penalty, it is not something we have control over but these are things that can hurt you over the course of a season, and these things are important when the level of the game is high and there is not much between the teams.”