By David Williams
Steve Cooper admitted he “didn’t like” Swansea City’s performance at Coventry City which the head coach admitted lacked fight and intensity.
Cooper watched his team earn a 1-1 draw at St. Andrew’s during which the Sky Blues missed a hatful of late chances to take the victory.
The patchy display by the Swans came after their home defeat to Huddersfield and although they remain fourth in the Championship table, the momentum from their rapid start to the campaign seems to be waning.
Jordan Shipley gave Coventry the lead after 19 minutes before Andre Ayew put Swansea back on level terms.
A disappointed Cooper said: “I didn’t like our first half performance and truth be told I was pleased not be down with Andre getting us back in the game
“Coventry do things a bit different tactically and you have to respect that – it got them promoted last season.
“We didn’t start the game with enough intensity and endeavour and I don’t like that, for as much as I want us to play football I want us to be a team that works hard and fights and we didn’t do that well enough in the first half – I had to tell them to work harder to match Coventry in the second half.
“Going one down probably gave us the smack in the face we needed.
“For 25 minutes of the second half, we had momentum but for some reason we gave it up and ended up being deep conceding too many balls in the box.
“We didn’t create enough chances and because I didn’t like our performance, I’m happy with a point.”
Coventry could have grabbed the win late on, with Ryan Giles and Callum O’Hare both going close.
Shipley gave Coventry the lead on 19 minutes when he met a Matty Godden pull back on the edge of the box. His smart left-footed effort beat Freddie Woodman in the Swansea goal and clipped in off the post.
We should take a lot of confidence from that game last night. Swansea are one of the stronger teams in the division and, let’s face it, we battered them 🤷🏼♂️
— Adam (@addey1983) October 21, 2020
Swansea then equalised on 42 minutes through Ayew. Matt Grimes played a superb ball down the left to an overlapping Jake Bidwell who had to stretch to pull it back for Ayew. The forward skipped past a defender before slotting left footed into the bottom corner past Marko Marosi.
Last-ditch defending saw Connor Roberts clear Giles shot off the line, then O’Hare’s header glanced off the post after a Ben Sheaf cross.
Coventry manager Mark Robins said: “We played with intensity and aggression.”
“We were on the front foot, the speed was good, we moved the ball well – there was a scrappy 15 minutes in the first half but other than that I thought we were outstanding.
“We had some good chances to win it and only disappointment is we didn’t keep a clean sheet.
“I thought we were much better, I’m delighted with my team – when you have the quality Swansea possess, someone like Andre Ayew – he just doesn’t miss the target – one chance and they scored it.
“We’re disappointed we haven’t gone on to win it as Callum O’Hare had a great chance at the end. Things we can work on, but overall, for our confidence it does us the world of good.
“Matty Godden was outstanding, great vision and awareness for our goal – it was a great finish from Shipley – but what a performance from Godden.
“We’re still finding our feet in terms of fitness but apart from their goal we’ve dealt with everything else.
“We gave them a real scare and that will give us a load of confidence. I thought we were brave and put in a real performance.”