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Page last updated at 19:31 GMT, Monday, 3 January 2011

Brendan Rodgers rues old Swansea City set-piece habits

Defensive set-piece lapses upset Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers admits old habits 'returned to haunt' his side as Leicester City knocked Swansea City out of the automatic promotion places.

Rodgers felt his Swans "outplayed" the Foxes but some set-piece vulnerability cost the visitors as Leicester scored both goals in a 2-1 win from corners.

"I thought we were the better side for 90 minutes," said Swans boss Rodgers.

"I said to my players at half-time we had been outstanding apart from two critical moments from set-pieces."

Bruno Berner's header from a Paul Gallagher corner broke the deadlock in the sixth minute before a Scott Sinclair 25-yard stunner levelled for the high-flying Swans.

But Rodgers' men conceded an almost carbon copy from another Gallagher set-piece just before the break.

Former England striker Darius Vassell won the Championship clash as he poked the ball into the net after Swans stopper Dorus De Vries could only parry Michael Morison's header - a goal that nudged Swansea out of the top two and Leicester to within two points of the play-offs.

The Welsh club have the joint second-best clean sheet record with 12 shutouts this season - one behind leaders Queens Park Rangers and joint with Millwall - but Rodgers was left to rue the return of some early-season set-piece sloppiness.

"We are disappointed because we played well but we just didn't defend two corners well enough," said Rodgers after Swansea lost their third successive away game.

"I'm bitterly disappointed. It was a game we could very easily have won but it was decided in areas where we're normally strong.

"Our performance was very good. We controlled large parts of the game. We made a poor start, got the game back, and scored a wonderful goal.

"But we switched off at set pieces and we must learn from it and make sure it does not happen again.

"At the beginning of the season we had a slight problem which we rectified but that has come back to haunt us.

"We felt our performance deemed something so to be getting on the bus home with nothing is a bitter pill to swallow."



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see also
Leicester 2-1 Swansea
03 Jan 11 |  Championship
Swansea 1-0 Reading
01 Jan 11 |  Championship
Swansea 1-0 Barnsley
28 Dec 10 |  Championship
BBC Sport Wales coverage
03 Oct 11 |  Wales


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