Michael Duff | It was an even game, but we did enough to shade it

Head coach Michael Duff was left with mixed emotions, but was pleased by the spirit his Swansea City side showed to come from behind to draw against Birmingham City in their opening game of the season.

The Swans had followed Duff’s pre-match request for an energetic showing during an opening half they had the better of, only to trail to Siriki Dembele’s goal on the stroke of half-time.

However, the hosts kept pushing after the break and got their reward when a superb pass from captain Matt Grimes put in sequence the move for the equaliser.

Substitute Liam Cullen raced onto the through ball, and his perfectly-weighted cross allowed Jerry Yates to open his Swansea account on his debut.

The Swans also hit the bar through Harry Darling and were denied by a save from John Ruddy and a goal-line clearance in the closing stages, while Carl Rushworth made a terrific late save to deny Ivan Sunjic a winner for Birmingham.

And Duff felt it was a game his side had the opportunity to take all three points from.

“I have mixed feelings really. I thought we came on really strong in the second half,” he said.

“I thought we also came on strong in the second half of the first half, and that was the frustration in that Birmingham did not have to do anything to get their goal.

“It was a really poor goal. To make that decision in the 45th minute, we do not want that.

“We have had to score a really good goal, whereas they did not really have to do anything to score their goal.

“But I thought the fitness levels were excellent, I thought they were absolutely out on their feet towards the end.

“We hit the crossbar, had one cleared off the line and had a goal disallowed.

“So there were lots of positives within it, I thought the spirit the players showed after going 1-0 down – when it could be easy to think it’s going to be one of those days was excellent.

“We kept knocking on the door right up to the 98th minute, I thought it was an even game, but I thought we did enough to shade it.”