Swansea boss Martin calls for more fight after Reading altercation

Swansea boss Russell Martin complained of a lack of fight from his players in the 2-1 defeat at Reading on Tuesday evening.

A clearly frustrated Martin also confirmed that he got involved in an altercation with a Reading player after his side’s latest setback.

After the game, the Swans coach approached a Reading player – thought to be goalkeeper Joe Lumley, who was celebrating in front of the Swansea fans.

After a brief altercation, the pair were swiftly parted.

“I wanted to grab the guy by the throat and fight him,” Martin said. “But that’s not a wise thing to do.”

Andy Carroll gave Reading a 27th-minute lead from close range and Yakou Meite should have added to it before half-time but blazed over from the penalty spot.

Tom Ince doubled the hosts’ advantage eight minutes into the second half and although Liam Cullen reduced the gap for Swansea in the 71st minute, the visitors were unable to find an equaliser, extending their winless run to eight matches.

Fight

“We’ve had this same conversation too many times,” Swans head coach Russell Martin said after the game.

“We dominated every aspect of the game – shots and better chances.

“But again, today, we gave away a penalty from a set-piece because we didn’t want to fight properly.

“And then we gave away that second goal, that was just pathetic.

“Then it was attack versus defence for the rest of the game. We scored one but then we don’t do enough to score the second.

“Reading defended their box with a mentality that is horrible, that is a willingness to fight and that is aggression. They are great at it.

“They showed all that mentality in their box that we didn’t. And that’s our undoing at the minute, that’s why we are where we are.”

Royals boss Paul Ince said his players put him through his “worst nightmare” in the victory.

Reading boss Paul Ince revealed that his side put him through “the manager’s worst nightmare” in their 2-1 Championship victory over Swansea.

“We made hard work of it in the end but that’s us, isn’t it?” Ince said.

“That’s the way the lads are in this moment of time.

“We’re at a club that is not used to winning games consistently, but I’m delighted that is now three wins out of four.

“But we just have to feel comfortable in winning games and feel comfortable when you’re in a winning position.

“It’s the manager’s worst nightmare. You’re trying to get the players up the park (to move forward) but they just don’t move.

“Eventually, after 15 minutes, you think that if they’re not going to move now, they’re never going to move.

“So it was a case of fingers crossed and, hopefully, we can come away with the result. We need to be a bit braver and move higher.

“I felt OK once we got the second goal but then we should have had focus, concentration and defending.

“But we were a bit poor on that front and let Swansea back in the game.”