Rooney reacts to Swansea defeat

Argyle fell to a third successive defeat on Tuesday night as they lost to Swansea City at Home Park.  

It was an improved Argyle performance, but still fell short of procuring any points, with Head Coach Wayne Rooney rueing his side’s inability to stop crosses into the box, which ultimately cost them.  

Just before half-time, in a first period in which the Greens had been competitive, Jay Fulton converted a ball in from the left flank, with Liam Cullen making it two from a low ball from Swansea’s right. Argyle did get a goal back, from Mustapha Bundu, and rallied at the end, but it was not quite enough.  

“It was frustrating really,” said Rooney. “I thought we played well in the first half, and then it’s a really poor goal to give away; not stopping the cross and then not clearing the ball.  

“Going in at half-time 1-0 down was tough. That gives Swansea something to hold on to.  

“The two goals we give away were poor goals. Maybe a bit of naivety from that point of view.  Other than that, I don't think Grimmy had much to do in goal. I didn't feel Swansea caused us that many problems this evening. I thought we dealt with [Matt] Grimes really well; he’s their playmaker.  

“We just let ourselves down with the two goals we conceded. It's poor from our point of view. Everything we've worked on over the last ten days really is being aggressive, getting to the ball, stopping crosses, and making it difficult for opponents to get chances in our penalty area.  

“We have to do more to stop the ball coming into the box. The second goal, I think we had three players around the lad on the ball. We let him cut inside, get a cross in, and then we don't defend the box well enough.  

“There was positives within the game, some really good play at times. More so in the first half than the second half. We had some good attacking moments [in the] first half, but that final pass, or the final shot, wasn't there. The second half was more grinding and trying to get something out of the game.  

“We were pushing, we got a goal back and we couldn't quite get the second goal. We can't keep relying on late goals to try to get in the game. We need to make sure we're in the game, pushing to try to win the game late on, if that's the case.  

“I thought there were some good moments in the game but, ultimately, the result was the most important thing tonight and, unfortunately, we haven't got that.  

“We know we've got a very difficult game coming up on Saturday (at Sheffield United).  We need to show some resilience. We're going through a tough period, but we have to make sure we stick together.”