Swansea boss Vitor Matos frustrated by set-piece woe

Swansea head coach Vitor Matos was left frustrated by the way his team conceded after a bright start in the 2-0 loss at Derby.

He said: “When you concede a set-piece goal you can get frustrated with that of course but we knew that Derby were really dangerous from these situations.

“What was important for us was how we started the game and the performance we put on in the first half I thought was really good. We were dominant and aggressive and to do that here is not easy.

“Then the second half started with the goal from the set-piece and then we took a little bit of time to get back into the game.

“Slowly we got back and created again one of two situations but then a second goal from a set-piece and I think that changed a little bit the feeling inside.

“It’s clear that we need to see it and analyse what happened and the first thing is to avoid set-pieces, that is the main thing.”

Derby head coach John Eustace saw his team’s preparation pay off as two set-piece goals delivered a 2-0 home win over Swansea.

Swansea had plenty of the ball in the first half without really testing Josh Vickers and Derby took advantage in the second half as Rhian Brewster and Patrick Agyemang struck following Callum Elder corners.

And Eustace was delighted to see work on the training ground bear fruit.

He said: “It’s something we spoke about before the game, about areas where we felt we could hurt them and when you’re up against a really good team you have to find a way to score.

“The delivery was fantastic and the hard work that Matt Gardiner (assistant head coach) does day in day out to make sure we are prepared properly certainly comes out in games.

“It’s a fantastic win. We had to find a way to win today against a really good footballing team and we knew we’d have to suffer at times without the ball.

“I thought in the first half the disconnection from the back to the front was a little bit too big when we tried to put pressure on the ball and we were a little bit loose when we did win it back.

“Obviously scoring when we did settled things down and I thought our shape was really good and we always looked a threat on transitions.”

Chaos

Derby took lead two minutes after the break when Elder swung over a corner which caused chaos in the Swansea six-yard box and Brewster pounced after his initial header was blocked.

Another Elder corner in the 67th minute was met by Agyemang who scored with a downward header.

It was Derby’s first home win since New Year’s Day and Eustace said: “All I can say is that we have been trying everything and working our socks off to make sure we do try and get as many home wins as away wins.

“Of course I want the home fans to be proud and go away happy but we are in a decent position and if we can turn a few more draws at home into victories that will be great.”