These are your Swansea City headlines on Wednesday, September 14.
Fulton: Seniors must step up
Jay Fulton says it's the responsibility of the senior players in Swansea City's squad to guide the younger members through tough moments in games.
Swansea once again succumbed to an injury-time goal on Tuesday night, going down 1-0 to Sheffield United at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Russell Martin's men have thrown away results against Oxford United, Millwall, Stoke City and now the Blades, and midfielder Fulton says the elder statesmen must step up.
READ MORE: Don't Take Me Home: Get the latest Wales football team news sent straight to you
“We’re disappointed,” said the Scot. “I think the thing we’re disappointed about is that we had chances and we didn’t take them.
“We probably feel hard done by, we feel like it was a free-kick on Naughts (Kyle Naughton) so it’s disappointing. I think if the game finishes 0-0, both teams walk away relatively content with that.
"But we have conceded late. Obviously it’s happened a couple of times where we’ve conceded in the last few minutes and it’s something that we need to work on because we cannot afford for that to keep happening. You can speak about it, but the people on the pitch need to be the ones who are putting in the actions and standing up and being counted. Hopefully it’s something we can cut out of the game.
“It’s up to us older ones to help the younger ones through these moments we’re having, we need to stick together.”
Delight and despair for strikers
There were differing fortunes for Morgan Whittaker and Kyle Joseph on Tuesday night when their sides faced off against each other.
Whittaker came off the bench for Plymouth Argyle to strike the winner for his loan club, while Joseph, who started the match for the The U's, had a bit of a shocker and missed an open goal from four yards out.
The Swansea man managed to hit the bar when well placed to get his side back on levels terms.
U's midfielder Marcus McGuane refused to place any blame on Joseph';s shoulders for his miss.
“We still had chances," he said. "Kyle had a chance but that’s football - he has been magnificent for us and scoring goals and he will score plenty more for us, you can’t score every chance. We just need to be better as a team.
“The fans are always great and to drive that far in the rain was a great effort. We’re sad not to get them anything from the game but we’ll try and put that right on Saturday.”
“We didn’t need to change tactically or do things differently, we just needed some fresh legs on there, it might be their night," added Pilgrims boss Steven Schumacher. "Morgan was excellent when he came on, as was Niall, as he has been, he’s playing really well.
“Everyone is – that’s why we’ve got 18 points after eight games.”
Martin falls out of Brighton picture
Frank Haise has been installed as odds-on favourite to take the vacant post at Brighton and Hove Albion by the bookies - but Russell Martin has seen his odds drift.
Bodo/Glimt boss Kjetil Knutsen, the previous favourite has also drifted in the race to take over from Graham Potter, who was recently unveiled as Thomas Tuchel's successor at Chelsea.
Fellow Swansea alumnus Steve Cooper, Bo Svensson and Roberto De Zerbi all continue to be mentioned, but Martin's odds have fallen to 25/1 with some bookmakers.
It comes after the Swans coach appeared to play down links with the vacant post at the Amex Stadium.
“When I was at MK Dons I got linked with lots of jobs. I got linked with a couple of jobs here last season," he said ahead of the defeat to Sheffield United.
"It is what it is. It’s just noise really. We’ve been totally focussed on our job.
"If you’re being mentioned about other jobs it means you’re doing something right, I think. It really doesn’t matter to us.
“We love the job we’re in and we need to make sure we keep improving."
Duo receive call-up
Joe Allen and Ben Cabango have been called up to Rob Page's latest Wales squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League games with Belgium and Poland.
Cabango returns after being ruled out of the last camp with an ankle injury, while Allen was a key part in the play-off win over Ukraine, which sealed a place in the World Cup for the first time in 64 years.
Wales travel to Belgium on September 22 before hosting Poland the following Saturday.
Under-21s game off
Swansea City's Under-21s' fixture against Watford next Monday has been postponed due it coinciding with the funeral of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The Professional Development League fixture was due to take place at the Swansea.com Stadium, and details for the rearranged clash are due to be confirmed in due course.
Bristol City clash brought forward
The kick-off time for Swansea's trip to Bristol City at Ashton Gate has been brought forward following a request from police.
The game was initially due to take place at 3pm on Saturday, October 29, but will now get underway at the earlier time of 12pm.
Ticketing details for the fixture will be released soon.
READ MORE:
