Premier League: Swansea boss Garry Monk pleased with character against Sunderland
Saturday 7 February 2015 19:37, UK
Swansea boss Garry Monk felt his side deserved maximum points after they were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against Sunderland at the Liberty Stadium.
Jermain Defoe's first-half opener was cancelled out by a diving header from South Korean Ki Sung-yueng in a lively Premier League encounter.
Ki, who was playing his first game since returning from the Asia Cup where Korea lost to Australia in the final, had a goal ruled out in the first half but made no mistake with his second opportunity after Defoe had scored his second goal in as many Premier League games for the visitors.
The draw leaves Swansea comfortable in ninth and chasing a European spot, although Monk is not looking too far ahead.
Disappointment
"Obviously disappointed not to come away with the three points," Monk told Sky Sports. "We created more than enough chances to get the three points but it wouldn't quite go in for us.
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It would have been a travesty had we come away with nothing - we were by far the better team.
"They scored the goal, which made it a little bit more difficult for us, so we had to push. It didn't look as though it was quite going to go for us, but we managed to get the equaliser with 20 minutes to go.
"We tried to push for the second, but like I said, it wasn't quite our day to get those three points.
"We showed the character and the reaction I wanted after their goal. We created more chances, got a good equaliser and it looked like we were going to go on and win the game, but like I said, it wouldn't quite go in for us.
"The squad is starting to come together now. Players are coming out of the injury room now and that's what I need in the second half of the season.
"I said to the players at half-time, 'it's about character'. The times we've moved the ball one-touch and moved it quickly, we created our best chances so it was about trying to do that in the second-half.
"It would have been a travesty had we come away with nothing - we were by far the better team.
"We could have easily have got the three points if a couple more of those chances had gone in, but we have to be thankful that we've got the point, which we thoroughly deserved at the very least."
