PRESSURE continues to mount on Plymouth Argyle head coach Wayne Rooney after his side slipped to another Sky Bet Championship defeat to Swansea City at Home Park on Tuesday night.
With just one win in their last ten league games, the Pilgrims now sit just a place off the foot of the table following the 2-1 loss.
Jay Fulton's composed finish put Swansea ahead at the end of a first half in which there had been little to choose between the sides.
And Luke Williams' team looked to be in total control after doubling their lead when the in-form Liam Cullen turned the ball home from close range on the hour mark.
Argyle, did, however, set up a tense finale when Mustapha Bundu, who had hit the woodwork in the first half, headed in on the rebound after Kornel Szucs' effort came back off the bar.
Although the home side pressed for an equaliser in the dying stages, the damage had already been done and boos rang out at the final whistle around the stadium.
Post-game, Rooney reacted to his side’s latest setback, saying: “The goals we conceded were naive to say the least, and that was really disappointing from our point of view.
“I think there were positives within the game - certainly an improvement on the last two games - but ultimately tonight was about the result and we fell short.”
Argyle’s cause has not been helped with the loss of several key players, including club captain Joe Edwards, Ibrahima Cissoko, Muhamed Tijani and Morgan Whittaker until the New Year.
Rooney added: "There is no denying, we know we are going through a difficult moment, and sometimes when you are going through a difficult moment them small things become big things and seem to go against you, and certainly they have tonight.
“We have to fight through it. We are gradually getting players back (from injury), which is key for us. We are probably missing our front three still, and missing our captain until the new year.
“All four of them, that's a big loss and any team would feel that in this league, missing the quality of players we are missing, but it's a squad game. We have to do better. We have to show a bit more resilience.
“I know we have got a lot of young players in there as well but we have to become men very quickly because it doesn't get any easier. We have got a really tough game Saturday (away to Sheffield United) and then a really tough fixture list over Christmas. We need to find that resilience, and dig in and stay in games more than what we are doing.”