Cooper praises Rhian Brewster's set-piece work

Steve Cooper praised Rhian Brewster’s set-piece ability after the striker’s stunning free-kick earned Swansea City a point at Millwall.

Unfortunately for the on-loan Liverpool striker, his effort has gone down as an own goal rather than his seventh of the season, having struck keeper Bartosz Bialkowski on the back on the way in.

It was an execution of the highest quality, although the deflection of the Millwall keeper means the Swans are still waiting for their first goal from a direct free-kick since Gylfi Sigurdsson’s strike at Manchester United in April 2017.

Matt Grimes has struck the woodwork from a set-piece this season, while Bersant Celina suffered the same fate as Brewster when his strike against Brentford in the FA Cup last season went in off a combination of woodwork and keeper.

But Brewster’s dead-ball ability came as no surprise to Cooper, who had worked with the striker with Liverpool and England prior to his arrival in SA1 in January.

“Rhian has that in his locker and, in hindsight, maybe he should have taken the one late on against Luton too,” said the Swans boss.

“He has that ability, he works hard on it in training. He practices them every day and his returns are good.

“I have seen him do it on many occasions, and you do fancy him on free-kicks.

“It was a brilliant goal and it’s a good tool to have available to you.

“I know it came back off the keeper, but we’ll be giving the goal to Rhian.”