Russell Martin wants young Swansea stars to learn from win against Coventry

Posted Sunday, March 06, 2022 by PA

Swansea manager Russell Martin admits his young team can learn from both sides of this Jekyll and Hyde display in their 3-1 win over Coventry.

Martin’s side completed back-to-back wins for the first time since beating the same opposition in November following the midweek win at West Brom.

Two goals from Michael Obafemi after the opener by Jamie Paterson saw the Swans cruising to victory just two minutes into the second half at Swansea.com Stadium.

But they were left holding on after being guilty of easing off far too early and allowing Coventry to rally.

Martin said: “I am really pleased with the result. I absolutely loved the first-half performance, I didn’t particularly enjoy the second-half performance.

“We have a fairly young team who have not been in the position of being 3-0 up very often and we didn’t manage the game very well.

“We gave them a big chance at the end of the first half with some sloppy play and it continued into the second half.

“We should have taken the sting out of the game and taken control of the game but there were too many mistakes, not enough intensity and too many scary moments.

“We have to do better and that’s left me feeling not as positive as I probably should do.

“But I don’t want to be too negative. Back-to-back wins after a really tough result shows the character they have and the work they are putting in, and I am really proud of them for that.”

Coventry had been eyeing the Sky Bet Championship play-off places but were made to pay for some lacklustre defending in the first half and wasteful attacking in the second as chances went begging.

Gustavo Hamer finally got them on the scoresheet in the 84th minute but that was far too little, too late.

Manager Mark Robins said: “We would love to have played better so from our point of view it’s a disappointing day.

“We were our own worst enemies. We gave them enough chances to go and win the game and they didn’t have to do anything really – I have seen them play a lot better than that.

“It just didn’t look like us at all in the first half. We looked leggy and we just weren’t able to get close to them.

“We didn’t take our chances and just gifted them their goals.

“Our goalkeeper has hardly had a save to make but we’ve found ourselves three goals down.

“We were better second half, but we have had three one-on-ones and only taken one. That’s not us.

“They were pretty ruthless when they got their opportunities but it’s more a story of us not taking our chances and giving them an opportunity to bury theirs. So we will have to learn from this.”