By David Williams
Russell Martin has admitted Swansea City are shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to their home form.
For the second time in three games in front of their own fans, the Swans went 2-0 behind before rescuing themselves.
Against Reading, Martin’s men came back to win 3-2, but the Wigan reprieve was only partial and they had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
Dutch striker Joel Piroe levelled from the penalty spot as the Swans came from 2-0 down, but Martin was left unimpressed by another day when his team were overly generous as hosts.
Will Keane and Tom Naylor had put Wigan 2-0 ahead with headers inside the first 16 minutes, but Ryan Manning scored to ignite a fightback before Piroe denied the Latics what would have been a priceless victory on the back of five straight defeats.
“I was hoping we could win all day, but we shot ourselves in the foot early on,” said Martin whose team have dropped to ninth in the table after being fourth two weeks ago.
“It takes big courage to fight back from where we found ourselves, and we should win the game. It was a big performance.
“So, we are all frustrated. We failed to deal with the details for the set pieces and it has hurt us.”
The draw means Swansea have not won in three games and have two victories in their last six games.
But they have also only lost twice in their last 10 games and it’s the form over that longer period that the head coach is keen to stress.
“We are so close to being the team everyone wants us to be, we have lost two games in ten,” he added.
“We are really competitive at this level, but we want to be more than competitive, and effect the league in a positive way.
“We had three players combine to score 50 goals for us last season, but they haven’t really got going so far this season. I am confident they will start scoring however, as we get more consistency.
Armstrong Okoflex was excellent for Swansea yesterday against Wigan
it is absolutely baffling that he has been overlooked for Ireland at underage level but is showing he could probably already cut it at senior level 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/N9b3W4eOjW
— The Green Machíne (@GM_Pod) November 6, 2022
“I think today’s goal will do Joel (Piroe) the world of good, and if Michael Obafemi starts listening to our details, he will start to get back to back to the things that made him really deadly last season.
“I’d rather just win and not have to come back, but the guys have really got character now. We have grown so much as a side since the start of the season.
“It was really important not to lose today, because of the loss midweek. So, I think it was a huge effort to come back from being 2-0 down.
“They are young players, but they have a lot of courage now, especially in the way we play. So hopefully they will keep developing.”
Liam Richardson’s Latics went ahead when Keane was allowed space to head home from a corner in the eighth minute.
A fifth away win of the season looked on the cards for Wigan when Naylor’s glancing header found the corner of the net eight minutes later.
☀️👏🏼
A huge thank you to every Tic who made the long trip to Swansea yesterday. The players & staff massively appreciate your support 💙#wafc 🔵⚪️ #BELIEVE pic.twitter.com/NzDRk85ELb
— Wigan Athletic (@LaticsOfficial) November 6, 2022
But Swansea found a way back just before the break thanks to a gorgeous curling effort by Manning from the edge of the box.
Piroe scored from the spot after Kyle Naughton had been upended by Jason Kerr.
Richardson admitted: “I don’t have any complaints with the penalty.
“The enormity of our challenge is huge. About 16 months ago we were left with just three players after administration.
“We can’t lose sight of the fact that we got a group together in League One and now we are up against some excellent clubs in the Championship, week in week out.”
