Vitor Matos disputes controversial sending-off in Swansea defeat

Swansea City boss Vitor Matos questioned the decision to send off Marko Stamenic during his side’s 2-1 defeat to Birmingham City, insisting the midfielder had made no direct contact with the opposing player.

The Swans were reduced to 10 men inside the opening half-hour when Stamenic was sent off for a challenge on Ethan Laird.

Matos said: “My view is that Marko [Stamenic] touched the ball with the first foot, touched the ball with the second foot. There’s no contact on the player, or no direct contact on the player.”

Despite receiving the red card inside 30 minutes, there were times in the second half when Swansea looked more likely to take three points from the game.

Matos was able to recognise some positives from the game, even though his team lost out late on.

He said: “You need to play to win no matter what situation you are in. That’s the real heart and soul of a good team. Find ways to compete and find ways to stay competitive, whatever the context is.

“Unfortunately, sometimes life is like that, you get knocks. It’s up to us to find ways to bounce back again. When I look to the performance, I have no doubt that that will happen.”

‘Special’

Meanwhile, Chris Davies admitted it was a “great” feeling to see Birmingham hit top spot in the Championship.

Jay Stansfield’s double, the second three minutes from time, proved enough to secure victory against the 10-man Swans, who had cancelled out Stansfield’s opener with a Christoph Klarer own goal.

The Birmingham boss said: “It’s great to be at the summit and to have touched the summit of this league with everything we’ve been through and the whole journey.”

Ross Stewart missed a penalty early on for Swansea after Jenson Seelt went down in the box under pressure from Alex Cochrane.

Davies also questioned the decision to award Swansea a penalty, which he felt was a harsh punishment.

“I was really disappointed with the penalty. I’ve watched it back so many times and I just can’t understand why the referee’s given that. I mean it’s incredible, the lad’s just thrown himself on the floor.”

Match-winner Stansfield said the Blues are determined to stay there. “It’s got to be the aim,” he said. “I think once you’re there, it’ll only be our fault for us not to be there.”

On his late winner, Stansfield added: “It was special. It was a massive game, they’re a really good team and to see everyone erupt like that is special.”