Monk left disappointed with cup defeat

Garry Monk was left disappointed to exit the FA Cup after his nine-man Swans suffered a 3-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers.

Despite a stunning Gylfi Sigurdsson opener, goals from Chris Taylor, Rudy Gestede and Craig Conway ensured the hosts progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup as Kyle Bartley and Sigurdsson both received red cards for the visitors.

Monk’s side were dealt an early blow when Bartley received his marching orders for a foul on Josh King inside six minutes as the Blackburn attacker raced through on goal.

But Sigurdsson struck home a sublime effort from 25 yards to put the Swans in front, only for Taylor to level the scores two minutes later.

Second-half substitute Gestede fired Rovers into the lead when he prodded home from close range, before Conway secured victory for the hosts with a driven effort from 20 yards.

But the Swans’ disappointing afternoon was rounded off in added time when they were reduced to nine men when Sigurdsson was sent off for a foul on Taylor.

“It’s a disappointing result to go out of the cup,” said Monk. “We wanted to get back on track, but unfortunately we couldn’t do that today.

“To go down to ten men early on didn’t help. All the preparation you do before the game kind of goes out of the window. We tried to re-structure to get to half-time to regroup, and we scored a good goal, but they got the equaliser before half-time.

“We talked about how we were going to work in the second-half to keep in the game until towards the end, then maybe change formation to have a go. We were doing that, they didn’t have too many dangerous situations.

“But we conceded a poor second goal. It was poor marking at a set-piece, which is something you can’t afford to do at any level. The third then comes because we were pushing on.

“We’re in a difficult moment after the last two games, but it’s important we come through it together.”

Reflecting on Swansea’s two dismissals, Monk felt hard done by.

He added: “The first was a coming together, but you run the risk of that when you are the last defender.

“I thought the second red card was harsh. It warranted a yellow, but I don’t think it was a red. He had a lunge after he was kicked. He shouldn’t react, but it wasn’t dangerous. I don’t think he was in any danger of hurting the player.”

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