Monk hails 10-man Birmingham after draw on Swansea return

Posted Wednesday, January 30, 2019 by PA

Birmingham manager Garry Monk reserved special praise for his 10-man side’s character despite being pegged back in a thrilling 3-3 draw on his return to Swansea.

Monk – who played 270 matches for Swansea in all four divisions and managed them 77 times – was making his first appearance in the opposition dug-out at the Liberty Stadium.

His Blues team looked like they would claim all three points despite losing Kristian Pedersen to two first-half yellow cards after Che Adams curled home from 25 yards.

Swansea’s Dan James and Jacques Maghoma had scored for either side before the break. Oli McBurnie put the hosts back ahead before Michael Morrison and Adams both struck.

There was still time for McBurnie to grab his second and a 94th-minute equaliser as he extended Swansea’s unbeaten run to seven matches with his 15th goal of the season.

“This game typified what we have been about all season. We have had to face a lot of adversity already and we had to do it again after going down to 10 men,” Monk said.

“Our response to that – especially in the second half – was fantastic. We keep proving we have a lot of character. I think the referee didn’t give himself a lot of leeway with his decisions in the first half.

“I’ve got very happy memories of my time at Swansea and it was great to see some old friends, but for the 90 minutes I was focused on getting a result for Birmingham.”

Monk added: “I am very proud of my players. Swansea are a very good team. I’m not privy to what’s been going on behind the scenes here, but when you are relegated from the Premier League everyone expects you to come straight back up.”

Swansea took the lead when James played a neat one-two with McBurnie and fired a left-foot shot past Lee Camp who should have done better.

Birmingham responded when Kyle Naughton gave Maghoma far too much space and he made the most of it to beat Erwin Mulder.

Pederson had already been booked when he hacked down McBurnie and saw red. Referee Stephen Martin gave six first-half yellow cards.

Swansea introduced Jefferson Montero for the second half and his cross was headed by home by McBurnie who made it 2-1.

Despite being down to 10 men, Birmingham would not go away and captain Morrison bundled home after a mistake by Mulder.

Striker Adams then found the bottom corner, but Swansea pushed until the death for an equaliser and got one when McBurnie swept home Mike Van Der Hoorn’s knock down.

Swansea boss Graham Potter confirmed striker Wilfried Bony is poised for a loan move to Al-Arabi.

“Wilf is on a plane to Qatar as we speak. I think it will be a loan move,” he said.

“In the end, we are happy with a point and I’m pleased with the way the players kept going right until the end.

“We started well and were in control of the game, but we dropped our level in the second half and didn’t make the most of our extra man.

“We pushed and pushed right at the end and I’m pleased to keep our unbeaten run going. There was some good link-up play from Oli for the first goal and there were some positives individually, but we’re still a work in progress.”