Round-up: Rodgers rues Swans' lack of intensity

Giles Lucas
Monday 20 December 2010 01:00 GMT
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Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers said his side lacked their "usual intensity" after the Welsh team missed the chance to leap above Cardiff by losing 1-0 away at Sheffield United on Saturday.

"We controlled the first half and then a lapse of concentration gave them something to hang on to," Rodgers said. "We did lack our usual intensity." His fourth-placed team, who are now level on points with Cardiff, were undone by forward Ched Evans' strike which gave the Blades' new caretaker manager, John Carver, a boost with his side just four points clear of the relegation zone.

Leicester City manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, was angry with referee Stuart Attwell's decision to let their match with Ipswich, which the Foxes lost 3-0, go ahead after a snow blizzard at Portman Road.

Attwell deemed the pitch playable and the game reached a conclusion despite a 17-minute second-half adjournment to allow snow to be cleared from the pitch so the lines could be seen clearly. Ipswich manager Roy Keane praised the referee, saying: "The referee had a tough decision to make and he was put under a lot of pressure by Leicester. That's what you'd expect and if it was the other way round we would have done the same thing. But he stuck at it and fair play to him for that." Ipswich ended a run of six straight league defeats with this victory.

Nottingham Forest stretched their unbeaten run at home to 29 league games with a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace. "Palace made it very difficult for us and it was important that we got the first goal and went on from there," said manager, Billy Davies.

Jay Simpson, who had not scored for 26 games, struck twice to help Hull see off Bristol City 2-0 in the first game since Assem and Ehab Allam completed their takeover of the club. Nigel Pearson, Hull's manager, said: "The takeover has gone on a bit longer than was expected. It was important to get it right."

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