By Freddie Owers
A DEJECTED Russell Martin confessed he has “never felt as low” after his Swansea City side’s dramatic 4-3 loss to Birmingham City.
Substitute Blues striker Lukas Jutkiewicz struck an equaliser in the 90th minute and then, deep into injury time, centre-back Auston Trusty headed in from a corner to snatch the incredible victory.
Birmingham had looked so unlikely to win when they trailed 3-2 late on, with goals from Joel Piroe (2) and Liam Cullen having given Swansea the advantage.
The manner of the defeat was one thing, but Martin also appeared concerned about the fall-out from his press conference remarks on Friday, when he criticised Swansea owners Craig Levein and Steve Kaplan for failing to recruit any new players in January.
Asked if he had spoken to Levein and Kaplan since, he said: “I don’t want to get into that…. of course I have.
🗣 “We’ve been here too many times. We can’t concede four goals with the way we have played.”
👉 https://t.co/Ipt1qlHrZV pic.twitter.com/QtVopPSFTi
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) February 4, 2023
“We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
“I’ve not felt as low as this to be honest.
“I’ve tried to be honest with everyone which has probably made some people unhappy.
“I’ve had a lack of sleep and I’m concerned for a lot of people.
“It’s been a really long 72 hours with what has gone on.
“We should have been out of sight and we paid for that lack of a clinical edge.”
Birmingham took the lead in the 12th minute with a Scott Hogan penalty given for a foul by Swans goalkeeper Andy Fisher on midfielder Reda Khadra.
Martin said: “It wasn’t a penalty, Fish hasn’t touched him.
“What happened, I didn’t envisage. We should have been out of sight.”