Swansea 2 - Bournemouth 2: Monk praises players spirit as Swans salvage a point
Monk's job is still not safe, but he was glad his team showed spirit
MANAGER Garry Monk felt Swansea's comeback to salvage a point against Bournemouth showed their hunger to put things right at the Liberty Stadium.
 
Andre Ayew and Jonjo Shelvey earned Swansea a 2-2 draw after they had been two goals down, but it is now only one win in 10 games for the Welsh club and the nature of the performance left a lot to be desired.
Bournemouth were the better side for long periods and should have recorded their first victory in eight games after Joshua King and Dan Gosling had given them a healthy lead inside 26 minutes.
But Monk said: "Considering we were two goals down, you have to give credit to the players for the spirit they showed to come back from that, especially with the situation.
 
"You can see clearly the spirit within them and how much they want to put it right.
"Having gone two goals down added to the tension and anxiety in the crowd. That then affects the players a little bit.
"I thought with the ball we lost a bit of confidence and that's the only bit really that's missing.
"You can see the other side of it is all there, that spirit and way of defending.
 
Swansea 2 - Bournemouth 2: Monk praises players spirit as Swans salvage a point
Ayew scored the goal that spark Swansea's comeback
"We just need to bring the players back to having confidence with the ball, that brightness and sharpness, and that will only come with results."
Ayew just about stayed onside to drag Swansea back into the contest with his sixth goal for the club before he won a contentious penalty six minutes before the interval, which Shelvey slotted home.
The Ghanaian appeared to trip himself when challenged by Cherries defender Simon Francis, but Monk insisted the decision to award a spot-kick was correct.
"The defender clearly clips Andre," Monk said.
"Whether that's intentional or not is debatable.
 
"But he definitely tripped Andre up, so the referee decided that was a penalty."
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe felt the penalty decision "didn't look quite right", but he said he was proud of his players' performance.
"I need to see the goals again but they are debatable," Howe said after his stayed in the Barclays Premier League relegation zone.
"Simon definitely felt it wasn't a penalty and from my position it didn't look quite right.
"I'm very pleased with the players as right from the start I thought we were excellent.
"We were in control of ourselves and deservedly got the two goals, and it's very rare that a team comes to Swansea and dominates the ball like we did.
"The only disappointing thing is that we haven't won the game after being two goals up.
"So there's things to learn from, but in the second half we were camped in their half and looking like we were going to score."

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