Pederson disallowed goal the turning point for Duff in Watford defeat  

Whilst admitting the Swans were not at their best and suffering from fatigue, the Northern Irishman feels that referee Andrew Kitchen’s decision to disallow Kristian Pederson’s second half header cost his side dear. 

Watford’s Swedish midfielder Ken Sema got the only goal of a game lacking quality in the final third ten minutes from time, whilst Harry Darling saw two efforts late saved by Hornets goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann. 

It would be, however, a bad day at the office for the Swans, leaving Duff with much to dwell over before the long trip to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday afternoon. 

“I don’t think there was anything in the game. It was probably a 0-0 game to be honest,” said Duff. 

“I think it looked like a typical Championship game with two closely matched teams. I’m not sure whether Saturday took more out of us than I thought because we looked tired. 

“I thought we started well on the front-foot and created opportunities but fell down with a bit of quality in the final third. As the game went on, we tired a bit and the game fizzled out. 

“There were big moments in the game. I thought we had a good goal disallowed; it was that type of night. If that goal stands, we go on to win the game. 

“They go down the other end and find a moment of quality where the lad sticks it in the top corner from 20-yards. That’s the one thing we couldn’t find. 

“They said there was a foul in the build up to it, but I have watched it back several times and I don’t know where the foul was.  

“The fact that it was not obvious and the amount of things that go on in a penalty area, when a corner comes in the box to not be able to see where the foul has taken place is frustrating. 

“It was one of those nights where fine margins came in and one goal settled it, but we felt we scored a good goal first.” 

Duff is hopeful that the Swans will have a few of the sidelined players missing from the match available for the weekend’s trip to Lancashire to face Blackburn Rovers. 

“Josh [Key] had a whack during the [Leicester] game and went down for a few minutes. He tried to see the game out, but once the adrenaline came out of his body, he was not able to train. Hopefully, he will be available for the weekend,” continued Duff. 

“Ben Cabango will hopefully be back, Myko [Kukharevych] felt a twinge in his knee yesterday. It is nothing serious, but if you look at the game today, we could have done with him to bring a bit of physical presence up top. 

“We’re asking players to do a lot of miles at the minute but that is the relentlessness of the Championship. 

“We got a tough away game to come now and we have to try and dust ourselves down and go again.” 

[Lead image: Swansea City FC]