Swansea City 0-1 West Ham: Vitor Matos tells Swans to use defeat as fuel

Vitor Matos has told Swansea City to use the frustration of defeat by West Ham United as fuel in their bid to keep pace in the Championship promotion race.

Swansea's four-game winning streak came to an end as they lost in the league for only the second time this season thanks to Divine Mukasa's first-half goal.

The Swans, who remain top of the table despite defeat, had their chances against the second-tier title favourites, with Ben Cabango going closest when he hit the woodwork.

And Matos says the manner of the West Ham loss means it should not halt Swansea's early-season momentum.

"I think it's important that when the game finished we all felt that we could have taken something out of the game," said the Swansea head coach.

"I think that's the most important thing today, that we played against a really good opposition, a team that of course is one of the main contenders to go to the Premier League, and we felt that we can compete and we can beat them as well.

"That frustration, that's something that should stay, but that's something that more than anything should give us the fuel to push ourselves in training, push our standards and keep improving."

West Ham climbed to second in the table having become the first visiting side since Southampton in April to win a league game at Swansea.

The game was tight until Mukasa struck, but opened up from that point as Swansea went in search of an equaliser.

The hosts' two best chances fell to Cabango at set-pieces, with the centre-back rattling one shot against the bar and then dragging another wide of the target when he appeared to destined to equalise.

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West Ham had further opportunities, with Lawrence Vigouroux making second-half saves from Jarrod Bowen – twice – and Pablo.

Matos felt Swansea proved their credentials despite losing a league game on their own ground for the first time since April.

"What I saw today, I think we can compete against every team and that's what we need to do," Matos added.

"We need to keep pushing ourselves to beat the best teams of the league. West Ham is one of the best teams.

"We tried [against them]. Unfortunately, we could not get something out of the game and that's the story."