Curtis praises Swans despite defeat

Alan Curtis praised his players for another positive performance despite going down to a 2-1 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The Swans - on a three-game unbeaten run - played out a goalless first half against Louis van Gaal's side, but the hosts took the lead two minutes after the restart through Anthony Martial's header.
But Swansea rallied and after Andre Ayew had struck the post, Gylfi Sigurdsson equalised with 20 minutes to play as he headed home a cross from substitute Modou Barrow.
United, though, regained the lead with 13 minutes to play as Wayne Rooney flicked home a cross from Martial - and it proved to be the winner as the visitors couldn't find another leveller.
And after a first defeat in four outings, caretaker boss Curtis felt his side deserved a bit more from their trip to Old Trafford.



"When you equalise that late in the game, you hope that you can hang on," he said. "But unfortunately it wasn't to be today.
"I thought we played better after United scored so early in the second half and we went for it a little bit when we made the changes and I thought we caused them problems. We started with the diamond and then changed it towards the end.
"Gylfi (Sigurdsson) has got the ability to create and score goals and he is important to how we play. You can see his quality and he will be very important to us in the second half of this season.
"Of course it has to be about results in our situation but the performances have been good."



Meanwhile, Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal praised his players after the home side claimed a first win in eight matches.
"(Anthony) Martial made a great contribution with an assist and goal," he said. "But all the players did their best and that's important.
"The second half was better because we scored two goals, but as a team our performance in the first half was much better."