On a bitterly cold night in Yorkshire, in a frantic opening, the Swans had got off to a flyer with Jamie Paterson latching on to Pascal Struijk’s poor attempted headed back pass to sublimely chip over home goalkeeper Illan Meslier in the first minute of play to take the lead.
This would be after Leeds would have the ball in the net themselves through ex-Swan Dan James in the opening phase of play only to be ruled out for offside.
It would not take the home side long to level the scores, however, with Joel Piroe latching onto a through-ball with good movement to calmly slot passed Carl Rushworth. A goal oh so typical of the Dutchman in his stint in South Wales.
The Swans would show a decent account of themselves in the first-half but would not have the finesse and quality at times of the Yorkshire outfit who would take the lead for the first time just on the break.
In what would be a decisive moment of the game for Duff, a long ball from Ethan Ampadu from the back would deceive Bashir Humphreys, allowing Georginio Rutter to show neat skill to bring down the ball and slot calmly passed Rushworth.
Leeds would be the stronger of the two sides in the second period and would put the game to bed on the hour mark with Welsh international James finishing a flowing move from a swift counter attack.
There were further chances for the hosts as the Swans fought to reduce the deficit with the game stretched but the score would remain the same leaving the Swans head-coach frustrated.
“I thought in the first-half we were excellent, and I wasn’t quite sure how we went in losing the game at half-time,” said Duff.
“We scored a good goal, but the timings of their goals where we concede within a couple of minutes and the last kick of the half makes it a different game.
“We were drawing the game and were playing good football through them, and I can’t really remember Carl [Rushworth] making any save of note.
“The second half then is different. We started off slopping and they are coming at us with a bit more of a squeeze. Even then we did try to play and stuck to what we are trying to do.
“We’re not a team that can bank in, we learnt from the second-half on Saturday where we stopped playing and today, we kept going and still tried to find a way at the end.
“Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and look at the quality of the squad they have got, the players they have got coming off the bench, and the quality of the goals they have scored.
“Summerville is a Premier League player ultimately. His skill and weight of pass for Joel [Piroe] and the pass and the first touch for the second goal are exquisite. He [Ethan Ampadu] puts it in the only place he can and finds his man.
“We’re disappointed we lost, but it is starting to look a bit like we want it to look like in terms of the football and trying to play through and hurt teams.
“There are signs of progress but we’re not naive enough to play ok and lose and think it’s fine. It is not, we need to find that balance of the two.
“I was really proud of the players today. We asked them to show personality and bravery and they did all that. It’s taking a bit more time than we wanted.
“People will say we’ve won one in seven, but I think we’ve played four of the top six in that run. It has been tough, but the lads have given everything and that is all I can ask for.”
[Lead image: Swansea City FC]
