Notts C 1 Swansea 0

"Automatic promotion is still there for us, there’s no doubt about, but we have to want it more. We’ve got 10 games remaining but we’ll have to play better than that.

"My job now is to inspire my players because it was a complete contrast of last week’s performance and win against Scunthorpe, one of our promotion rivals."

Swansea lacked guile and vision to open up a stubborn Notts County rear-guard. Their final ball was inept. The visitors had only one decent chance on target – Izzy Iriekpen’s header superbly saved by Saul Deeney – and that’s a stat that speaks volumes as to why Jackett’s stuttering Swans were soul-searching last night.

Mark Stallard’s goal early in the second-half somehow clinched three points for a poor Notts County side, who previously had the worst home record in the division, as Jackett’s men completely dominated territory and possession – so perhaps the Swans manager’s controversial decision to leave Roberto Martinez, a creative general, out of the injury-ravaged matchday squad back-fired.

However, Jackett defended his decision, insisting: "It was a consideration to bring Roberto back but Marcus Bean and Kris O’Leary deserved to continue as they played very well against Scunthorpe."

NOTTS COUNTY

SWANSEA

REFEREE

ATTENDANCE

Goals

"We didn’t get the ball wide, we didn’t get the ball into good areas, we didn’t support the man on the ball quick enough, we didn’t get the ball into our frontmen’s feet and didn’t link the play constructively. Our tempo was poor too. Performance wise, and I’m not talking attitude or effort, we can play a lot better than that.

"We didn’t deserve to lose but we didn’t create enough chances and that’s a concern. Also the players’ heads went down after they scored when I was looking for a big reaction. It was a complete contrast from last week and we need to realise that even if we do go one goal behind that we’ve the ability to come back. We just need the confidence and belief."

The Swans controlled the scrappy opening period but the visitors were reduced to just long-range pot-shots at Deeney’s goal as Kris O’Leary, Andy Gurney and Lee Trundle tried their luck.