Russell Martin | We have to stop giving teams a head start

Swansea City head coach Russell Martin says his side have to stop giving opponents head starts in games after coming from behind to draw 2-2 against Wigan Athletic at the Swansea.com Stadium.

The Latics had led 2-0 inside 15 minutes in SA1, with Will Keane and Tom Naylor on the scoresheet with headers from corners.

Ryan Manning’s excellent finish pulled a goal back for the Swans before the break, while Joel Piroe netted his fifth goal of the season from the penalty shot to ensure the spoils were shared.

The hosts had a number of other chances, with Ollie Cooper, Piroe and Jamie Paterson all going close.

And while Martin was pleased by the character his players once again showed as they made it 12 points gained from losing positions this season, he knows they have to stop putting themselves in such positions.

“We shot ourselves in the foot again with the two set-piece goals, but it takes a big courage to come back in the way the players did,” said the Swans boss.

“We should have won the game. I don’t think anyone can disagree with that – it was such a dominant performance.

“I think you have to appreciate how difficult it is when you go 2-0 down, to then avoid it becoming a game of basketball and going 3-0 down.

“We know we need to score more, there are brilliant chances we did not convert and there were times we needed to be patient and move the ball at speed.

“The subs helped us, but we are so frustrated. Two people do not do their detail on two set-pieces and it hurts us.

“We concede too many poor goals at the moment. I think we are conceding one of lowest numbers of shots in the league but we are letting goals in from individual errors.

“The guys ran so hard and gave so much, and on another day maybe we win, but we cannot give teams a head start like that.

“When we score first, we are very difficult to play against and the frustration is we are close to being the team everyone wants us to be.

“We have lost two games in 10, we are very competitive at this level. But we want to be more than competitive – we want to really affect the league.”