By David Hadley

Steve Cooper has told his players to take defeat on the chin and not look for any excuses after they lost for the fourth time this season.

The Swans head coach was downcast after a demoralising 2-0 defeat at Derby County, a team that had not won at home all season, are still in the relegation zone, and had not managed more than a single goal in any game this season.

But they were far too good for Swansea on the night as Cooper’s team followed up their derby day victory at Cardiff City last Saturday with their poorest display of the Championship campaign.

The Swans did not manage a single shot on target and Cooper admitted there was no point in looking at a crowded fixture list to find excuses.

“I don’t care about what went on in the past,” said Cooper. “Okay, Saturday was an important day, but they played as well.

“That’s not an excuse and if we look for excuses I don’t think that’s the right mentality.

“We had a really poor start to the game, didn’t do anything well starting with the basics and the fundamentals of what makes a good performance.

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“In the end we got punished for it and gave ourselves too much to do.

“We have got to take it on the chin. The players know they fell short, I know they fell short and it ended up being a really disappointing night.

“We never got a foothold in the game by doing the non-negotiables of attacking and defending.

“Because of that we found ourselves 2-0 down and needed to make a lot of changes at half-time to try and get an impetus in the game but, in the end, we gave ourselves too much to do.

“It just shows if you don’t do things properly you get punished.

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“We fell short of the basics of defending for the goals and on numerous other occasions in the first half. In this league, if you do get, you get punished for it.

“We had to go chasing the game second half so maybe we forced things a bit as opposed to working the ball a bit better

“But it was a poor night in every sense of the performance. It’s really disappointing, the players know, and I know, and we have to quickly address it and get ready for the next one.”

It was also the first time this season that Derby had scored twice in a game and stretched their unbeaten run to six matches since Wayne Rooney became interim manager.

Colin Kazim-Richards gave the hosts the perfect start after such a barren run at home by scoring inside five minutes and Swansea never recovered from that early setback.

It was no more than Derby deserved when Poland winger Kamil Jozwiak finished impressively for his first goal for the club and only the crossbar denied Kazim-Richards a second just before half-time.

 

Swansea City suffered just a fourth league defeat of the season against Derby County at Pride Park.

✍️ Match report 👉 https://t.co/Eaw6X6rqnY pic.twitter.com/RtvariO0wT

— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) December 16, 2020

Swansea were better in the second half but failed to create a clear chance and missed the opportunity to move into the top three while Derby, who stay in the bottom three on goal difference, kept a clean sheet for the fourth-consecutive game.

Rooney said: “It’s a fantastic win for us over a very good Swansea team. I am delighted for the lads. They worked really hard today.

“First half was very good, we played some good football and maybe we could have scored one or two more. Second half we dug in at times but I felt Swansea didn’t really look like scoring.

“We got a little bit nervous, we sat back a bit, but I am delighted we saw the game out and got three points. Tonight was a big game for us. Last season we didn’t win against any of the top six.

“Swansea are a very good team who will be fighting for promotion so it’s a big win for the lads in terms of confidence as well.”