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Michael Duff Insists Only A Mad 15 Minutes Cost Swansea City

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By Paul Jones

Michael Duff blamed his players for “a mad 15 minutes” as they lost for the third time in five matches to drop to 17th in the Championship table.

The Swans head coach pointed the finger at poor defending from set-pieces as they went down 3-2 at high-flying Ipswich Town.

Duff’s side had led 1-0 through Jay Fulton but fell 3-1 down before pulling back a late goal through Jamal Lowe after striker Liam Cullen was sent off for a second yellow card.

“We’ve been beaten by a 35-yard screamer, conceded from a throw in, conceded a penalty from a corner and had a man sent off from a throw in,” said Duff.

“Three set plays, ultimately. We kept the ball really well, started the game on the front foot, shot ourselves in the foot in a mad 15 minutes, got back in it and then we went down to 10 men.

“I thought we were excellent. I think that there’s 30,000 people biting their nails when nine minutes goes up (for added time).

“We’ve got 10 men and they’re time wasting which tells you everything. I’m really pleased with the character and some of the quality but ultimately frustrated that we have come away with nothing.”

Ipswich fell behind after just seven minutes when Fulton’s header found the back of the net.

But Jack Taylor’s wonderful long-range strike drew the teams level after 17 minutes, Conor Chaplin put them ahead five minutes later and George Hirst converted a second-half penalty.

Cullen was sent off after receiving a second yellow card midway through the second half but the visitors still managed to pull one back through Jamal Lowe.

But Town held on for a victory that moved them level on points with the Foxes, who lost 1-0 at Middlesbrough.
Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna said: “It shouldn’t have been 3-2.

“There’s bits of frustration in there but there’s lots of good things about the game and the way that we played, the way that we overcame adversity and played some really good football and could have had any number of goals, really.

“We should have been out of sight and I didn’t really like how we played the last 15 minutes against the 10 men. I didn’t like our concentration level. I didn’t like our humility.

“We dropped our concentration levels. It’s not just the frustration in the staff room it’s frustration in the dressing room that we didn’t maintain our standards for the last 15 minutes of that game.

“Sometimes something goes against you. There’s a lesson in there, but on the other hand massive credit to the group, massive credit to the response, massive credit to how we played throughout the first half, the way we came out in the second half, the way we chased down and built pressure for the third goal.

“There was some outstanding things in there.”

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