Swansea City boss delivers verdict on controversial call and what his side showed against Sunderland

Michael Duff said Charlie Patino should not have been shown a yellow card for either of his fouls on Pierre Ekwah but said he wanted the headlines to be about the resilience his Swansea City side showed in holding Sunderland to a draw.

Duff's side held out for more than an hour with ten after Patino was shown a second yellow, with the Black Cats struggling to create clear chances despite their domination of the ball throughout.

"I thought we were magnificent. I think anything that could have gone against us went against us. But we played 75 minutes with 10 men against one of the best teams in the league," Duff said.

"Until the red card we weren't good enough with the ball, but I want to talk about the spirit, people putting their bodies on the line and giving everything for the shirt. And we had the best chance of the game. But that went against us.

"We have talked about togetherness a lot, in the last few weeks, and that proves it. They are together. We have had a difficult start, so much change in the football club, but the one constant has been the togetherness. There are things we can improve on and there are things we didn't do, but 75 minutes against one of the most attacking teams in the league and I thought we were excellent.

“We’ll go through it. It’s part of his learning. If you give referees decisions to make… I don’t think either was a yellow card ultimately," he said of Patino's dismissal.

"It’s why he’s here, different experiences. Arsenal want him to have these experiences with different teams so it doesn’t happen when he’s playing for them. It’s why we have players out on loan.

“We’ll talk to him and show him a few clips but it’s character now. It’s an opportunity for someone else to come in and if they step up he might lose his place. But he’s been good, Charlie. He’s had a lot of headlines this week in terms of a bit of noise and things like that but he’s been flatlining in terms of his own ego, keeping it in check and not getting ahead of himself.

“He knows where he wants to be but he’s prepared to work every day to get there. This will be another part of his learning. Inside he’ll feel like he’s let the team down but he hasn’t let the team down. He’s made a couple of mistakes but it happens.

“We talk about togetherness and the way the players have got him out of the muck so the headline isn’t ‘Charlie Patino cost the team points’ or ‘Jamal cost the team points by missing the penalty’. The team stuck together.

"I'm not going to talk about the referee today. I want to talk about how our lads got through the adversity, how they got each other through. We will take the positives out of the game, rather than the decisions, because I'll just get in trouble.

"It felt us against them. Us against them in red and white and us against them in black at some points. Supporters feel it. It becomes tribal then. I was really pleased we didn't concede."

Swansea City remain four points behind Sunderland after the draw, with the Black Cats two points of the play-off places.