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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

Olivier Ntcham's telling Bristol City reaction as Russell Martin outlines Swansea City's post Cardiff City lesson

Russell Martin admits Olivier Ntcham was the game changer at Bristol City as the attacker scored late on to earn Swansea City a point at Ashton Gate.

The head coach sent on five substitutions as the Swans looked to find a way back into the contest in Bristol after Tommy Conway fired Nigel Pearson's side ahead in the first-half.

And Ntcham came up trumps in the 76th minute as he rifled home his fourth goal of the season to ensure the Swans claimed a share of the spoils.

READ MORE: Bristol City 1-1 Swansea City: Ntcham stunner cancels out Conway opener as points are shared

"I'm really pleased for Olivier. Whenever you have a player out of the team, you want them to react in a positive way," said Martin.

"To react by performing on the pitch and impacting the game, he's done that every time he's come on. He'll be very desperate to get into the team and stay in the team at some point.

"The guys in front of him, Luke [Cundle] and Ollie [Cooper] have been brilliant. It's great to have players really knocking at the door.

"I thought all of the subs impacted the game in some way. Ryan Manning helped us, Kyle Naughton to help us on the ball in that last phase.

"Armstrong [Oko-Flex] had a really good impact, really positive and really direct and then Pato [Jamie Paterson] to get back on the pitch is brilliant for us."

Swansea dominated possession throughout but gifted Bristol City numerous opportunities through their sloppiness on the ball. The substitutions gave the away side more energy and played a key role in ensuring the Swans extended their record of claiming the most points from losing positions in the Championship this term.

But Martin admitted the celebrations of some players following Sunday's 2-0 triumph over Cardiff City may have played a part in his side's somewhat untidy first-half showing against the Robins.

"I saw some pictures circulating on social media that I didn't enjoy too much," he said when discussing the post-Cardiff victory celebrations.

"At the same time, they're human beings, they're young men, they go and win a derby game against Cardiff. Some of them, history makers from last season, a lot of them from here understand the importance of it, it means so much.

"Who am I to stop them? But I think it's a great lesson. Some of them will probably stop a bit earlier than they did the other night.

"There is a balance, right? You have to zoom in and zoom out. They earned the right to go out and enjoy that with the supporters in the city.

"But if you go out and do that, you have to really make sure you're a top performer the following week. That's a brilliant learning curve for some of them. Some people can do it and get away with it, some people can't.

"It's just part of their learning in how to be professional footballers at this level and what it's going to take to try and be top players at this level. I'm not going to criticise anyone for that."

Swansea return to action against Preston North End at Deepdale on Tuesday night.

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