Russell Martin admits he was disappointed by the way his young Swansea City side saw out their 3-1 win over Coventry City on Saturday, and says they need to improve their game management over the coming weeks if they are to end the current campaign on a high.
The Swans raced away into a 3-0 lead shortly after half-time at the Swansea.com Stadium, but allowed the visitors plenty of opportunities to get back into the game.
Mark Robins' men did eventually muster up a consolation five minutes from time after spurning a flurry of good chances, and on another day may well have set up a far nervier finish.
Martin was keen not to be too negative about his team's performance, particularly given that the result secured back-to-back Championship wins, but nevertheless struggled to hide his disappointment at certain aspects of the performance.
"I'm really pleased with the result," he said. "Absolutely loved the first half performance. Didn't particularly enjoy the second half performance. But we have a fairly young team that's not been in the position of being 3-0 up very often.
"We didn't manage the game well enough in the second half. I don't get overly emotional about results, but I do about performances.
"Performing well, performing consistently leads to results in the end. We have to do better than we did in the second half.
"So it's left me feeling probably not as positive about the whole thing as I probably should do. We have a lot of work to do. A lot of work to do. I'm extremely proud of the way they played in the first half. to play the way we do takes huge courage.
"We limited Coventry to one shot and that was a mistake from us.
"But the last few minutes of the first half there was some real sloppiness creeping in and it carried on."
However, Martin believes certain members of his team did their best to set an example as Coventry gradually fought their way back into the game, including skipper Matt Grimes, whose superb pass set up Michael Obafemi for Swansea's third goal just after the break.
"The second half started quite messily for us," Martin continued. "Grimesy nicks the ball high up relentless for us. I thought he was outstanding. If you need someone for the younger guys to look at in terms of consistency and levels of performance, he's your man.
"We lacked intensity. Too many mistakes, not enough attention to detail, not enough intensity out of possession and they had far too many shots. Far too many chances. Far too many scary moments. I didn't like it one bit.
"But I don't want to be too negative. Back-to-back wins after a really tough result. It shows the character they have and the hard work they put in.
"I'm really proud of them for that."
Martin was also full of praise for Jamie Paterson, who netted his first goal since his high-profile contract dispute back in January, before later being rested ahead of Tuesday's clash with Fulham.
"It was a beautiful goal. Brilliant, brilliant goal," Martin continued.
"Pato hasn't scored for a long time - we know why Pato hasn't scored for a long time.
He's slowly building back up and it was nice to get him off the pitch and to get some rest in his legs ahead of Tuesday because he's not been too used to playing week in week out. He's still building back up. But I'm really pleased for him and the quality of the goal was fantastic."
But perhaps the real start of the show was Obafemi, who earned an assist, as well as the first brace of his career, on Saturday afternoon.
"Real pace is something we've missed and we've lacked for a large part of the season," Martin said when asked about the striker's contribution.
"It's something that scares opposition defenders. There's no doubt about it. Pace is the worst thing to play against. I would say that being a slow centre-half. But I don't think anyone enjoys playing against that even when you're quick. He's definitely given us another dimension.
"I just want us to finish really strongly this season. It's about growing and trying to keep improving and hopefully he'll be part of that."
For the latest Swansea City news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox, you can sign up for our newsletter here.
