Steve Cooper | It was a poor night in every sense

Steve Cooper pulled no punches as he admitted Swansea City had produced a poor all-round performance in defeat at Derby County.

First-half goals from Colin Kazim-Richards and Kamil Jozwiak – with the opener arriving in just the fourth minute – condemned the Swans to just a fourth league defeat of the season.

The Rams also hit the woodwork through Jason Knight and Kazim-Richards on a night where the visitors were some way below the levels they have produced for much of the season to date.

The head coach sent on Kasey Palmer, Yan Dhanda and Ryan Manning at the break as he sought a way back into the game, but none was forthcoming.

And Cooper acknowledged the display was a long way below his expectations, and made no excuses in his post-match assessment.

“It was really disappointing,” he said.

“From the first minute we did not do things right, we did not start the game well, including giving the set-piece away softly and how we dealt with it.

“That carried through into the rest of the performance, and we never got a foothold in the game by doing the non-negotiables of attacking and defending.

“Because of that we found ourselves 2-0 down and needed to make a lot of changes at half-time to try and get an impetus in the game but, in the end, we gave ourselves too much to do.

“It just shows if you don’t do things properly you get punished.

“We fell short of the basics of defending for the goals, and on numerous other occasions in the first half. In this league, if you do that, you get punished for it.

“We had to go chasing the game in the second half so maybe we forced things a bit as opposed to working the ball a bit better

“But it was a poor night in every sense of the performance. It’s really disappointing, the players know, and I know, and we have to quickly address it and get ready for the next one.”