Swansea City “suffered” in the second half against Bristol City, according to boss Luke Williams, who also believed his side were lucky to come away with a point against the Robins.
It was an action-packed Sunday afternoon as City and the Swans rekindled their rivalry in South Wales and the televised contest didn’t disappoint, with the two sides playing out an entertaining 1-1 draw.
The hosts took the lead in controversial style as Ben Cabango met Ji-Sung Eom’s corner to open the scoring. But the goal was met with plenty of raised eyebrows as Max O’Leary appeared to be fouled in the build-up by Swans winger Ronald on the goal-line.
After referee Andrew Kitchen waved away Robins appeals for the strike to be disallowed, Williams’ men went on to control the first half and came close to doubling their lead when Ollie Cooper hit the post.
City would regain stability in the encounter on the hour mark as Liam Manning hauled on Mark Sykes, Joe Williams, Cam Pring and Nahki Wells from the bench. They were changes which paid off, with captain Jason Knight stepping up to the occasion to meet Scott Twine’s corner on 75 minutes.
With the Robins’ tails up, they came close to a winner through substitute Sykes, who was denied by a great stop by Lawrence Vigouroux to keep the scores level and Williams believed Swansea struggled to cope with the second half City onslaught – claiming his Swans side were the worst team on the pitch.
“The first half we looked a pretty good side and made the breakthrough, which is important,” the Swansea head coach claimed. “But in the second half we were by far the worst team on the pitch.
“I think when you’re 1-0 down it’s easier to throw caution to the wind and Bristol City did that really well. We missed the moments to smooth the game out, to regain control and take control, so we suffered.
“I’d have to invite you into the team meeting to demonstrate to you exactly (what went wrong), but I’ve got a very, very clear idea about what shifted the momentum, and it’s moments.
“It’s key moments where we made the wrong choice and, in this way, we’re not such a good team. We suffered and, in the end, we’re only just about value for a point.”
Despite Manning running the changes as he looked to swing the momentum, Swansea also made substitutions of their own with Myles Peart-Harris and Joe Allen being introduced two minutes before City’s equaliser.
Williams, though, didn’t want to lie the blame the changes made as the Swans began to lose grip on the contest.
“We’ve had games where we’ve been poor in the first half and then excellent in the second, so we can’t look at that,” he added. “It’s about coping with spells in the game when either the opposition are dominant and we have to find the way to get a foothold or the other way round – we’re the team with the foothold and have to maintain that for a longer period.
“There isn’t one pattern unfortunately. We have to try and prove to the players what can prevent them from losing their grip on a game.”