Swansea boss Alan Sheehan bemoans lack of cutting edge in Burnley defeat

Swansea lacked the intensity seen in the recent home wins over Blackburn and Middlesbrough as they lost 2-0 at home to Burnley.

When they did have promising moments there was a lack of cutting edge.

Caretaker boss Alan Sheehan has now suffered back-to-back defeats, having taken seven points from his first three games and means they are now six points above the relegation zone with eight matches to play.

“It wasn’t a good start,” he admitted.

“You can’t turn the ball over in those areas against this kind of team; we knew the first goal was going to be really important in this fixture and they got it.

“Then they scored a second goal and we didn’t really defend the box well enough and it was going to be an uphill battle from there.

“Goals change games; we had a game plan but then when they get the goal and you’re obviously having to chase the game, the spaces become bigger and it turned into a game that probably suited them more.”

Burnley head coach Scott Parker hailed a thoroughly professional display from his side after they moved into the automatic promotion places in the Sky Bet Championship with a 2-0 victory at the Swansea.com Stadium.

The result never looked in doubt from the moment skipper Josh Brownhill tapped home an easy opener inside four minutes and then played a part in his side’s second midway through the first half, which was scored by Jaidon Anthony.

The Clarets secured consecutive wins at Swansea for the first time in their league history, while extended their unbeaten run in the current campaign to 25 matches – a run stretching back to November 2.

“I thought overall it was a real solid, professional performance,” said Parker.

“We started the game really well in terms of our intensity, breaking out of certain areas and then executing with two goals.

“There were tired legs out there coming out of a really busy schedule and we just managed the game extremely well.

“I just felt the game was constantly in our hand and it always helps obviously with the two goals to make it feel like that.”

On moving into the top two, albeit maybe only temporarily, Parker added: “Winning again is the most crucial thing, like I always say and it’s going to be pretty boring but I have no interest in what others are doing.

“We’re at the back end of this season now, it’s been a long gruelling hard one and we just need to keep chalking off the wins.”

It was Burnley who got off to the brilliant start when they took the lead in the fourth minute when Brownhill converted from close range for his 13th goal of the season.

The visitors doubled the lead after 22 minutes when Brownhill’s cross was eventually lashed high into the roof of the net by Anthony after a goalmouth scramble.