Russell Martin says he has never felt as low as he does following Swansea City's 4-3 loss to Birmingham City after admitting he is now prepared to deal with the fallout from his explosive pre-game press conference.
The Swans endured a torrid January transfer window and failed to sign a single player, despite the coaching staff being told they would be backed in the market by the club's owners.
Head coach Martin fully demonstrated his disappointment with the club's lack of activity in the opening month of 2023 during his press conference ahead of the visit of the Blues.
READ MORE: Swansea City chiefs conduct shock interview and publicly apologise after shambolic transfer window
However, that anger and frustration was put aside on game day as the Swans looked on course for all three points after a brace from Joel Piroe and a strike from Liam Cullen put the hosts 3-2 up after Scott Hogan's early penalty and Tahith Chong's second-half effort.
But they lost Joel Latibeaudiere to injury late on, leaving Martin's men having to play the final stages with just 10 men after the head coach had already used his three available substitution slots, the last of which saw Harry Darling replace Piroe.
Late headers from Lukas Jutkiewicz and Auston Trusty ultimately earned Birmingham a dramatic victory.
Assessing the loss to John Eustace's side, Martin said: "It's been a really long and tough 72 hours, I've not had much sleep with everything that's gone on.
"We should be 3-0 up after 20 minutes or half an hour. The penalty's given, it's not a penalty, it's a really poor decision. Fish [Andy Fisher] doesn't touch him. We reacted brilliantly. The performance was so good in the first half. We should be out of sight and we pay for that lack of clinical edge.
"Birmingham made some changes and it helped them, so we changed formation to alleviate that. Lats has to come off and we have no sub breaks left, that's my fault. We didn't envisage that happening and we made subs to try and help the team. They brought on a big threat so we put Harry [Darling] on to have three big guys there.
"So that's my fault. When you're down to 10 men, it's difficult. We should be able to see it out but we don't unfortunately."
Martin admitted the game encapsulated Swansea's season so far, with Latibeaudiere's calf injury now potentially leaving the already thin squad in an even worse state.
The 37-year-old, who said "I've not felt as low as this" after the defeat, then conceded he would have to deal with the fallout from his pre-Birmingham media briefing, during which he was joined by his entire coaching staff at Fairwood.
When asked if he had spoken to the club's owners following his explosive pre-match press conference, Martin responded: "I don't want to get into that. Of course I have. We'll have to wait and see what happens. I've done my very best to keep everyone focused on what's important this week.
"I've done my very best to be as honest as I possibly could with everyone which has probably made some people really unhappy. I have to deal with that and the fallout from that. We had a real opportunity to build on the togetherness and the support everyone's given each other this week and we haven't quite taken it. But I'll be fine."
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