Matos urges Swans to 'grab' games after Stoke loss

Vitor Matos said Swansea City must learn to "grab" games from the outset if they are to climb the Championship table following their 2-1 defeat at Stoke City.

Swansea competed with the Potters for long spells but were left to rue a sixth loss in their past eight games thanks to goals from Ben Pearson and Sorba Thomas.

After Pearson netted in spectacular fashion just before half-time, Thomas doubled the home side's lead on the hour.

Swansea made Stoke work for victory after Zan Viptonik pulled a goal back 11 minutes from time, but there were no clear-cut chances late on despite the Welsh club's battling effort.

"Like I said in the beginning, there are going to be ups and downs, especially in terms of results," said Swansea head coach Matos.

"What we get today is performance. Of course it's frustrating because of the result.

"What we need to take from the game is that we need to start becoming this team that from the beginning wants to grab the game for us.

"We need to become this team that wants to compete against everyone."

A third defeat in five matches under Matos leaves Swansea hovering above the Championship relegation zone.

While Matos was pleased with the character his side showed at the Bet365 Stadium, he accepts better is required as attention turns to next Friday's home game with Wrexham.

"We have one week to train and then we play Wrexham. That's what we need to focus on now," he added.

"We need to keep pushing and keep improving. Training helps a lot, I think it's the most important thing."