Roberto’s "Setback"

Roberto Martinez was, as you would expect, disappointed after seeing the Swans give away three points at the Liberty with a poor display this afternoon.

It was a game that they expected to win but was far from the classic that he predicted before the match itself with neither side able to stamp their authority on the game. However, Martinez believes that the red card for Ferrie Bodde was the pivotal part of the game with the Swans in control up to that point according to the manager.

Speaking after the game he said "We normally have a high standard and even in this game we were in control until the sending off

"But we needed the second goal and perhaps didn’t quite reach the levels we would like to maintain. We have to make sure we win the game first but here we created our own problems by going down to 10 men.

"The referee had a poor afternoon but Ferrie needs to learn the lesson as it cost us dearly. It would be easy to blame the referee but he must understand that certain actions are not allowed in this country.

"The defeat is a setback but we can come back from it stronger and in the long run I don’t think it will affect us."

Opposite number Sean O’Driscoll believed that his side were worthy winners

"It is nice to finally get up and running," O’Driscoll said. "It has been a while but we kept our heads and deserved the victory.

"It was always going to be a difficult game but we worked extremely hard and got our just rewards thanks to two stunning strikes."

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This article first appeared on JACKARMY.net.