Russell Martin possibly surprised a few people when reflecting on his Swansea City sides 3-1 defeat at Craven Cottage last night. In fact he drew many positives from the game which will be taken forwards in to Saturdays bottom of the table clash at Derby County.

Martin wouldn’t be drawn on many negatives staying “ I’m really proud of the players, we came here and went toe to toe. We were up against the best team in the division. We had some great moments but two,of their goals were of real high quality. The guy finishing off these chances is possibly the best striker in the division. The first goal was offside though, no matter which way you look at it, it was offside, that’s disappointing. No criticism intended of the assistant referee, it’s a tough job, but it is a mistake”

As calm as ever Martin’s immediate post match reflections remained lucid and thoughtful, “ I thought we started the game really well, Pato’s goal got us back in it at 2-1, there were minor details after that which wouldn’t have ended up as a goal with most other teams at this level. We will work on that. But I loved us in the second half, Flynn had a massive chance, we lacked that swagger and confidence, their players are of real quality. We though looked a really good team, a really good team, so I’m really proud, there’s lots of good stuff to look at. I think the supporters will appreciate that we came here and had a right go. We wanted to be the aggressor and the dominant team”

Unfortunately there was little aggression in the swans despite dominated phases of the game, and of course not taking chances.”We've been done by a few moments of quality and some tough to take decisions, said Martin. On Ben Cabango “ Listen I’ve spoken about Ben a lot, he is being asked to do things he has never been asked to do before, it’s tough. It’s a big responsibility, anyone can make a mistake, he’s made one and it resulted in a goal, but he plays with courage. He has the right character to play in this team, it’s how you react to your mistakes, and he did so well in the second half. It’s up to us to develop that potential”

“We have players here who really can play football, the three previous draws we should have won, we’ve come here tonight and had a real go and Fulham will respect us for that. I’m relaxed about it, we need to keep improving. We will. We haven’t had a pre season, we are trying to get to peak fitness. We are a work in progress but I expect to see improvements before the Cardiff game. We needed the last international break and we need this one too”

On exclusions from the match day squad Martin explained “ Rhys Williams wasn’t included, we didn’t need another defender. We are in a situation where you have to perform. Brandon Cooper's another young man who we have asked to do very different things and he’s been magnificent. He takes on tremendous responsibility, but it’s about performance and how you train. It’s tough when you come here lower in the league than you want to be. We need to be more aggressive, we felt Fulham’s energy was dropping, that’s why the second half was better. Pato’s relationship with Joel is working, it worked on Saturday and it worked again against Fulham”

Swansea City are back in the road on Saturday when they visit Pride Park for the final Championship game before a two week international break.

Photographs licensed from Reuters & Open Source

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