Russell Martin was left frustrated as his “young” team again failed to hold onto a win as Stoke City came back to earn a point in Staffordshire.

Joel Piroe – playing in what Russell Martin says is his favoured position – netted the opening goal and looked much more himself after a below par start to the season. Oli Cooper was also a bright spot whilst Matty Sorinola had his best game in a Swans shirt.

But little can be said for yet another gut wrenching late goal conceded as Tyrese Campbell slotted home after a free kick wasn’t dealt with.

Michael Obafemi also came off the substitutes bench for what is likely to be his last game for the Swans with Martin himself confirming a bid had been rejected.

He told the official site: โ€œIt is a frustrating one.

โ€œIn the grand scheme of things, with it being Alex Neilโ€™s first game in charge and our two results prior to this, you would probably have said a point would have been a good result before the game.

โ€œBut to concede so late is really frustrating, and itโ€™s not easy to take that disappointment out of how you feel about the game.

โ€œBut I am proud of the intensity the guys showed and how they defended our goal. Most of Stokeโ€™s threats were from corners and set-pieces, which they had too many of but I cannot remember Andy Fisher having many saves to make from them.

โ€œWe did not have as much control as usual with the ball as itโ€™s a tough place to come to.

โ€œYou could see it was a young team out there on the pitch, and we did not take the chance to play in some moments where we could have.

โ€œWhen we did play in the first half, I thought we caused them all sorts of problems, we looked really dangerous and Joel Piroe scored a great goal playing in his favoured position.

โ€œIn the second half we were not clean enough in our detail, and that can happen when you are not winning games.

โ€œWhen that happens confidence is not as high as it could be, and we missed some real moments to counter and we should have made more of those moments.”

The Swans take on QPR on Saturday bidding to earn a second win in sixteen games.

By Rob Davies

East Stand season ticket holder since 2007 and a small part of Planet Swans since 2021.