Better required after another frustrating night for Sheehan

Alan Sheehan rightly pointed out after defeat at Preston North End that his Swansea City side might easily be in a much better league position.

Swansea had enough control in last weekend's draw at Charlton to claim three points rather than one.

And Swansea were so dominant at Deepdale on Wednesday that a draw would have been a disappointment, never mind the 2-1 loss they suffered.

To lose on a night when Swansea had 18 efforts on goal compared to Preston's four must have left Sheehan cursing his side's attacking failings all the way home to Wales.

"Anybody who has watched our last two games… you could come out with six points easily and be in a totally different position," Sheehan said.

"We have come out with one and we are very disappointed with that. That's the margins in this league."

The issue for Swansea is that too often this season, they have finished up on the wrong side of the Championship's fine margins.

As a result, they sit 17th in the table with almost a third of the campaign already behind them.

Sheehan expects better. The club expect better.

Swansea remain closer to the play-off places – the gap is six points – than they are to the bottom three, with 22nd-placed Norwich City eight points worse off than Sheehan's side.

Had they won their two games this week, Swansea would be on the fringes of the top six with 22 points.

As it stands, the play-off places appear some way off for a Swansea team who have won only two league games since August.

An upturn in results is required, and a win over Ipswich Town on Saturday would be very timely.

Lose this weekend, however, and Sheehan will be left licking wounds once more during the international break.