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Russell Martin admits that Swansea City’s mismanagement of play in the second half proved costly, as Middlesbrough defeated them 3-1.

The Swans held their own in the first half and led through what was Joel Piroe’s 14th goal of the campaign, with Michael Carrick’s men mustering just one shot on target in the first 45 minutes.

But Boro was far more lethal after the restart and, after Jay Fulton had a goal disallowed for marginal offside, saw Aaron Ramsey, Cameron Archer and Chuba Akpom bulge the net to win all three of the visitors’ points.

READ MORE: Swansea City 1-3 Middlesbrough: Goals from Ramsey, Archer and Akpom complete a nice turnaround for Michael Carrick’s side

“They had a lot of the ball in the first half, they are a good team with a lot of athleticism and good players,” he said. “We knew it would be a tough match and there would be times when we would have to suffer without the ball and work very hard, which the guys did.

“I was very pleased with a lot of it. We looked dangerous on turnovers and scored a really high quality goal. Then we actually started the second half better than we played in the first half and scored a goal that I’m still I’m not convinced he’s offside, it’s such a close call, I’m sure someone will have a better angle than I’ve seen.

“At 2-0 it’s a completely different game. But we didn’t manage the game well enough after that, we conceded a counter-attack from our corner and a playoff from his corner, which sums up where we are.” In fact.

“At 2-1, we were deep into it. They were a real threat on the counter attack in the second half, but then we got into the box and took a penalty and it took all the energy out of the game.” .

“The crowd was great today, but that third goal took away from the atmosphere and the energy from the players and the crowd and that was the game. Frustrating. Really frustrating. But I’m pleased with a lot of what I saw.”

“Last week and this week, although we lost, it felt a lot better than the Rotherham game when we drew and the Stoke game when we lost. I hope the players and the crowd get something out of that, we certainly have as a coaching staff.”

Ollie Cooper was withdrawn at half-time in the defeat to Boro through injury, although Martin has allayed fitness concerns about the 23-year-old, who is hoping to be included in Rob Page’s Wales squad this week.

“He had a hit, he wasn’t quite himself after he got kicked in the first half,” Martin said of Cooper. “He felt like he could continue, but it just wasn’t worth the risk. He couldn’t get the best out of him after taking a big hit. It was really a bit of a precaution. We have two really big games.” Coming soon, and obviously there’s also the Wales team announcement, which we hope he’s in.

“I think Olivier Ntcham did very well with the ball when he came in, he gave us a bit of athleticism and energy which was good. I hope Ollie is good for Tuesday.”

Swansea return to action against Millwall at The Den on Tuesday night.

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