Potter proud of ‘magnificent’ 10-man Swansea after comeback victory at Millwall

Posted Sunday, September 02, 2018 by PA

Swansea manager Graham Potter was extremely proud of his players after they came away from Millwall with a 2-1 victory despite playing with 10 men for over 85 minutes.

The Swans’ backs were against the wall for long periods after Courtney Baker-Richardson’s early red card, but they produced a sensational turnaround in the final 14 minutes to pick up their first win in four league games.

Potter said: “I thought we offered a threat, as much as you can with 10 men. I thought we played with real courage – the players were wonderful, amazing.

“I’m very proud to be the coach of Swansea City today because I thought we were magnificent.

“Their goal was a bit disappointing because it was from a set-play.

“Apart from that, I didn’t think they created so much – there was pressure, there were balls coming into the box and there were things that you have to deal with.

“In terms of clear-cut chances I thought we defended quite well and in the second half I actually forgot we were down to 10 men.

“When I saw the sending-off live, I think it was one of them that you know you’re in trouble.

“There was no malice in it from Courtney’s perspective – he’s just making his debut, very excited and he’s gone to challenge and it’s not a good challenge.”

Richardson-Baker’s EFL debut was cut short after just five minutes when he was shown a straight red for a reckless tackle on James Meredith.

When Murray Wallace eventually gave Millwall the lead after 62 minutes, a Swansea comeback looked unlikely, but Kyle Naughton equalised from the edge of the area.

Oli McBurnie then stunned the Lions with five minutes left when he was on hand to tap in Jefferson Montero’s cross.

Millwall boss Neil Harris said: “If anyone in the ground had seen that coming, I wish they would have told me.

“Of course you’re going to make the odd poor decision as an individual and as a group, but Swansea dug in and made it difficult to break them down.

“When you get your noses in front, I couldn’t see us conceding and we never looked in any danger.

“There’s always a threat of a counter-attack, but it never looked like it was going to come.

“We’ve got enough leadership in the group to manage the situation, but you can’t explain individual errors.

“You can praise quality, but I’ll talk again about the mindset of the players, as a group, over the last six days.

“Without naming names, did the players do enough when we didn’t have the ball in the last 15 minutes? Did they do enough to make sure we didn’t concede? Well, they didn’t.”