Jack Cork has conceded that Swansea City fell way short of expectations during their 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth.

Paul Clement’s side dropped to 17th position in the top flight as the loss on the South Coast followed up the previous setback at Hull City.

The Cherries were ahead just past the half-hour mark after Benik Afobe’s shot deflected off Alfie Mawson and left Lukasz Fabianski wrong-footed.

Earlier on, the Swans had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down by referee Mike Dean after Marc Pugh’s arm appeared to block Tom Carroll’s shot.

Afobe doubled the lead after the break, with the Swans failing to find a way back into the game.

And Cork admitted their efforts didn’t reach the standard required.

“It was very disappointing. We didn’t play as well as we could and we are well aware of that,” said the Swans skipper.

“The first goal was unlucky because it takes a massive deflection, but after that we didn’t react well enough. In the second half we didn’t get going.

“This is another setback for us, but now we have two big home games to come after the international break. We must react positively in those matches.”

Clement said: It`s difficult to take any positives out of this result when clearly we needed more, but we have to reflect on the bigger picture as well now,”

“At the start of January we had 12 points and were rock bottom. With nine games to go, we are 17th and we play two home games next.

“Bournemouth have just shown what you can do when you put two good results at home together. They have a bit of breathing space now and we have to try to do something similar to them in the two home games we have.

“Clearly, Middlesbrough next is a very, very big game.

“But we must not panic and we must not start looking for culprits, pointing the finger or blaming people.

“We are very much in this together and the players have pulled together well since I have been here.

“They have trained well and we have got some really positive results over the last two-and-a-half months.

“We now have around two-and-a-half months left of the season and there`s no reason why we can`t get some more good results from here on in.

“Our objection, as it has been all along, is to finish 17th. Anything higher than that will be a bonus.”

“It will be about which players and which teams hold their nerve, who can block out the situation and focus on performances,”

“The players have shown they can handle that pressure. They did so against Burnley and against Leicester, two pressure games for us.

“Now we have to react well to this defeat, get back to our stadium and produce a good performance, as we did in our last home game.”