Russell Martin says Ben Cabango apologised to his team-mates in the Swansea City dressing room following his red card against Middlesbrough.
The centre-back was sent off for two bookable offences, the second of which was a rush of blood to head when he pushed over Boro man Isaiah Jones as Swansea tried to get themselves an equaliser.
It was a sign of frustration from the Wales defender, a feeling which most probably permeated throughout the team after another lacklustre performance from Russell Martin's men.
In fairness to Cabango, he held his hands up in the changing rooms after the final whistle, according to the Swansea head coach, who was not unhappy with parts of the display up on Teesside, especially in the second half.
“We had started the game really well, we played with a lot of purpose and had control,” said the Swans boss.
“We make one mistake and we conceded from it, and that’s just a sign of where we are at, at the moment.
“We are getting punished for those mistakes. We have a young team and so we just had a little wobble for 10 minutes, which led to the second goal.
“But, after that, the boys could not have given us any more during that second half.
“The lads showed a willingness to run and the courage to play. We had more energy and intensity, and I felt a goal was coming before we got the penalty. Then Ben has made a poor decision and he has apologised in the dressing room, but the red card is not the reason we did not get something from the game because we were still the team pushing at the end.
“I felt we showed some character and guts, which is what we asked for at half-time.
“Guys like Ollie Cooper and Nathan Wood – coming back to his hometown club – were outstanding.
“We need to support the young guys better, with the experienced guys we do have on the pitch, that’s for sure.
“We have had more shots on target than Middlesbrough and looked dangerous in the second half. In the first half we did not have enough intensity in the top line of our attack, we were too safe and not prepared to take risks and did not have a willingness to run to create space for each other.
“We had more of that second half, and Joel (Piroe) got his goal which he deserves for the amount of work he does for the team.
“But we are just beating ourselves at the minute, we really are.”
The hosts' manager, Chris Wilder, believed they fully deserved the three points and hit the nail on the head - Boro were simply better in both boxes than Swansea. A familiar tale at present.
Wilder said facing a Swansea team is never easy, saying they are "really difficult" to play against.
A delighted Wilder said post-match : "I think we completely deserved that win today and tactically we were at it, we sat in and kept our shape really well. We countered well, were good in both boxes and the bit in the middle, it was a different sort of game today, but I think we all understand that it’s the bit at both ends that ultimately matters most and we were the better at both ends.
"It was a right difficult game. Swansea is probably the hardest game in a lot of ways. The way they play is obviously how Russell [Martin] wants his team to play. That’s really difficult to play against. We had to show a really disciplined side to us because when we get beat at Reading, everyone in the ground wants to go ‘come on, let's press and get after them’. That is part of the game.
“I think we are quite good at pressing but Swansea is possibly the hardest game to play. When you’re looking at who you want to play after you have not got a result after five games, it certainly isn’t Swansea. But we kept our shape when we had a chance to break it up and counter attack, play how we did and score two goals. A bit disappointed that we’ve not extended our lead as well from their first half.
“When eight minutes goes up, you have to get over the line by hook or by crook and we certainly did. I thought we were comfortable. They are always going to have more passes in them because that is the way they play. But as I said, that’s what happens. They give up chances and they dominate possession. It’s a really difficult system and players to handle, but they handled it well."
The win was Boro's first of the season, and Wilder says the pressure will be lessened somewhat, with Martin also feeling the heat, he believed. Boro have had the luxury of bringing in two signings this week, something which a hamstrung Martin cannot do right now.
“Of course, yeah. You live with it, you breathe it, and I think that will be the same for Russell as well," Wilder added.
"He’s doing a great job there - a different type of job - but he’s doing a good job. We’re the same in terms of we see our team play well you don’t get the results it hurts. Listen, there can’t be a wrecking ball to it. Last Saturday was poor but we know we’re not a million miles away and it just felt important to get that win.
“We have put ourselves under pressure. We created our own pressure but the group is getting stronger. We brought another two in this week, I think that has made a huge difference. We’ve been light and short and there has been no depth to the squad.
“Once you start adding good players to the group then it gives the other good players a boost. You become stronger and you’ve got options off the bench. You look like a team that wants to compete where we want to compete in the division. That’s where we should be."
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