Michael Duff | We showed more good signs, we now need to stitch it all together

Head coach Michael Duff has challenged Swansea City to stitch together the best elements of their play with and without the ball after taking Premier League Bournemouth all the way in their Carabao Cup second-round tie.

The Swans eventually suffered a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Cherries in SA1 in an entertaining encounter under the lights at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Skipper Matt Grimes fired the Swans into the lead from the penalty spot after a lively start from the hosts, who retained their advantage at the break.

David Brooks and Hamed Traore struck after the break to give Bournemouth the lead, but Jamie Paterson’s drive from distance saw the Swans get back on level terms late on, only for Ryan Christie to net a stoppage-time winner for the visitors.

Despite the disappointment of defeat, there was plenty for the Swans to take from their performance, and Duff wants his side to continue to build on the positive elements in their showing.

“I thought there were elements of the game where we were really good tonight,” he said.

“I thought we started really well with the ball in the first 25 minutes, and then they grew more dominant and got a bit more aggressive.

“We camped in, but when we had to do that, we defended really well.

“If you look at Saturday, where we worked the ball really well for an hour, we then did not defend properly in the last half an hour.

“Tonight was a bit of a flip of that, really. I thought we defended really, really well. I know we conceded three goals which is disappointing, but they had to bring on their big guns and they scored in the 93rd or 94th minute.

“So, it is now about trying to stitch the two parts together.

“It’s trying to keep the ball and move the ball and hurt teams, while realising the opposition are going to have the ball at some point so we have to be better when we are defending crosses, be more aggressive in the way we do defend.

“Saturday the two goals we conceded were really disappointing, because people did not do their jobs. They did them tonight.

“We are disappointed with the result, but we had people coming off the pitch tonight having given us absolutely everything, and that’s all we can ask for.

“There are signs of things we are working on every day, they are coming out in segments in games, it’s up to us now to stitch it all together.”