Alan Tate says that the Swans cannot afford any more repeats of their Preston defeat this season

Swansea City's vice captain was back in the right back position against Preston North End as Garry Monk returned in the middle but it was the home side that came out victorious on a day that was reasonably harmful to the chances of the Swans hitting the top two.

As Norwich City, Cardiff City and Leeds United all won, the Swans now have their automatic hopes out of their hands with the massive game against Norwich next up before Hull visit the Liberty Stadium three days later.

And Tate told the Western Mail “We can’t afford any more off days like that where we weren’t comfortable defensively

“That’s not just myself, Garry, Ash (Williams) and Neil (Taylor) – it’s all around the park. We weren’t our usual selves going forward either.

“There aren’t any excuses from us. We got what we deserved.

“Individually, we were poor from front to back.

“You aren’t going to win games when you play like that.

“It’s probably only the second time this season we’ve played like that – the other was Nottingham Forest away.

“It’s disappointing because if we had won at Preston then Norwich come to our place with the chance of us going second.

“It’s out of our hands now, but there’s still plenty of games left for the situation to change.

“We can’t allow another performance like that because it will cost us. There’s 21 points to play for and we are capable of winning all of them.”

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