Swansea boss Graham Potter almost echoed the attitude of former Nottingham Forest manager Mark Warburton, as he reflected on defeat at the City Ground.
The Welsh side dominated possession for long spells, but found themselves beaten 2-1 after set piece goals from Daryl Murphy and Molla Wague helped Martin O’Neill’s team to stage a stirring comeback.
It breathed fresh life into Forest’s play-off hopes, while leaving Swansea sitting in mid-table.
But Potter says the Swans must retain their belief that, if they continue to produce good performances – and believe in the way they play – good results will follow.
And, when asked if he would have preferred to have played ugly and taken all three points at the City Ground, he was definitive in his answer.
“No, I wouldn’t. Because you have to have your way of playing,” said Potter.
“Swansea won ugly a little bit – and ended up dropping out of the Premier League.
“It depends on how you want to play. People talk to me about the Swansea way. What is that? Is it winning ugly or is it playing the way we want to play and accepting that, when we are a little bit short, there might be areas we need to improve in.
“For me, we have to play the way we want to play and master those areas in which we can improve.”
Potter was frustrated in defeat, particularly after seeing his side take the lead in the 76th minute when a shot from George Byers took a big deflection off Connor Roberts.
But he told his players to keep the faith.
“There were a lot of positives, even if it is hard to keep saying that when you do not get the right result at the end of it,” he said. “It was disappointing. It was a sore one. I thought we did such a lot right in the game, for 80 minutes.
“We played well, we created opportunities and we got ourselves a goal, while restricting them. We did everything right until the final ten minutes, when we failed to defend two actions in the box.
“That is the beauty of the game, but it is also clear what we need to do better.
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“It is frustrating, because we came here to win. But you win matches by how you play – and we played really well today, for 90% of the game.
“We just got heavily punished for the other part of it. We won’t be the only team that this happens to. But you have to respect that this is part of the game.”
