Michael Duff frustrated after Swansea City comeback falls short at West Bromwich Albion

Head coach Michael Duff admitted the overriding emotion was frustration after watching his Swansea City side's late fightback fall agonisingly short in their 3-2 defeat at West Bromwich Albion.

The Swans had trailed 3-0 after 64 minutes at The Hawthorns, with long throws leading to a Semi Ajayi strike and a Carl Rushworth own goal, before John Swift added the home side’s third from the penalty spot.

But the visitors got themselves back into the game as Harry Darling’s powerful header got them on the board, before Nathan Wood’s first goal for the club narrowed the deficit to one goal.

Swansea pressed for a leveller, with Ben Cabango heading agonisingly wide in stoppage time, but it was not enough to prevent a first defeat of the season.

Swans boss Duff was pleased with the fitness levels of his side, and the energy they showed as they chased the game, but rued how passive and sluggish they had been prior to that point in the contest.

“The feeling is mainly frustration, we were masters of our own downfall,” he said.

“We were passive, we were too slow with the ball in the first half and had no intensity.

“There was no purpose to what we were doing, we were keeping the ball for the sake of keeping it.

“We gave away a poor goal, you cannot allow them to have four-straight contacts in your penalty area.

“We came out second half and did not really show a great deal more purpose, which again is a frustration.

“We gave two more goals away, and then we come alive, which is a positive.

“We looked fit, we moved the ball quicker, people came on and affected it. We changed formation, but I don’t think that had a lot to do with it, to be honest.

“We moved the ball quicker and showed a bit more purpose, we need to learn that we cannot give poor goals away and we cannot play at our own tempo. We have to play at a high tempo.

“They just kept sliding across the pitch in defence and looking to hit us on the counter-attack, which teams will try and do.

“They picked their biggest team against us, so we have to eradicate our errors there, which has been an Achilles heel over the last few years.

“It’s down to people doing their jobs. People have specific jobs and they didn’t do them today.

“At the level we are at, you don’t get many opportunities, but the positive was that no-one went under, they stuck together and no-one started looking after themselves.

“The frustration is you look at every stat at the end of the game, and they are all in our favour apart from the one that really matters."