Curtis salutes "excellent" performance

Alan Curtis saluted Swansea's "excellent" performance after they suffered a heart-breaking 2-1 defeat at Manchester City.

Despite Bafe Gomis equalising in the last minute, cancelling out Wilfried Bony's first-half opener, Yaya Toure's last-gasp effort earned the hosts all three points at the Etihad Stadium.

It proved a disappointing end to a positive Swansea performance, who out-played their title-challenging opponents in the second half.

After Bony had headed the hosts in front in the 26th minute, the Swans had numerous chances to level the scores before substitute Gomis came off the bench to fire past Joe Hart late on.

But fortune didn't favour the brave on a wet afternoon in Manchester as a deflected Toure effort looped over a helpless Lukasz Fabianski in added time.

However, in spite of defeat, caretaker boss Curtis praised his players following a difficult week for the club.

"We're bitterly disappointed," said Curtis. "When Gomis scored,I thought it would've been a fantastic point for us.

"But maybe that's the difference between the teams at the bottom and the teams at the top - that bit of luck.

"I thought we were excellent today and deserved something out of the game.

"I think we showed today that the quality is there. So many people had written us off before the game, but we wanted the three points.

"All credit to Man City, they're a fantastic team, but we felt we matched them for long periods today.

"The performance was something we can look back on - that's the standard. To a man, every player gave everything. 

"We need to maintain that standard. And if we do, I am 100 per cent confident that we will get ourselves out of trouble."

Curtis also paid tribute to Garry Monk, insisting it was a performance that the former Swans manager would have been proud of.

"This is Garry's team and he would have been delighted with the players' performances today. 

"It's been a sad week for everyone at the club, and we wanted a result not just for ourselves but also for him."

Manchester City manager Pellegrini, meanwhile, admitted relief to have won the game following a "difficult" 90 minutes.

"Yes it is relief," said Pellegrini. "We didn't play well, but it's very important to win this kind of game.

"We knew it would be a difficult game - Swansea played well. We weren't 100 per cent recovered after the Champions League, but we showed spirit to win the game after they made it 1-1."