Russell Martin hails Swansea’s character aft

Posted Sunday, November 06, 2022 by PA

Swansea manager Russell Martin insists his side could have gone on to beat Wigan but he remains content with his young squad after securing a point to get themselves back on track following a tough loss in midweek against Preston.

The hosts struck late with an 84th-minute Joel Piroe penalty to earn a 2-2 draw, having found themselves 2-0 down after just 16 minutes.

Wigan remain winless in six games in the Championship and now sit just five points from the foot of the table.

Martin said: “I was hoping we could win all day, but we shot ourselves in the foot early on. It takes great courage to fight back from where we found ourselves, and we should win the game. It was a big performance.

“I’d rather just win and not have to come back but the guys have really got character now. We have grown so much as a side since the start of the season.

“It was really important not to lose, because of the loss midweek. It was a huge effort to come back from being 2-0 down.”

Will Keane found the back of the net for the opener, from an in-swinging James McLean corner. Tom Naylor then doubled the lead just eight minutes later with another dominant header in the box as Wigan bossed the home side physically.

Swansea got a goal back through Republic of Ireland international Ryan Manning, when his curled effort from outside the box nestled in the top corner.

The hosts pushed hard in the second half and were rewarded when Jason Kerr fouled Kyle Naughton and Piroe stroked his penalty past Jamie Jones to earn a point.

Wigan manager Leam Richardson said: “We were definitely worthy of our lead in the first half, we are a bit disappointed with Swansea’s first goal coming just before the half-time whistle, but it just shows the quality they have in their ranks.

“So of course we can make better decisions surrounding the penalty. Jason (Kerr) has made a decision and we have to take that. That shows how close things are in this league.

“The enormity of our challenge is huge, about 16 months ago we were left with just three players, after administration.

“We can’t lose sight of the fact that we got a group together in League One and now we are up against some excellent clubs in the Championship, week in week out.”