Curtis hails Swans character

Alan Curtis hailed his side's display of "character" after the Swans battled to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over West Brom.

Ki Sung-Yueng's ninth-minute opener - his first goal of the season - was enough to separate the two sides on Boxing Day at the Liberty Stadium and move the Swans out of the Barclays Premier League relegation zone.

Ki tapped home from close range in the ninth minute after Angel Rangel's initial effort rebounded off the post and on to the back of Baggies goalkeeper Boaz Myhill, who was unable to gather the ball under pressure from Ki.

Despite a nervy end to the contest, West Brom failed to truly test Swans stopper Lukasz Fabianski, and caretaker manager Curtis praised the Swans for showing a different side to their game to secure the crucial three points.

"We can play better and have played better over the last couple of games, but we showed a different side to our game today: the character," said Curtis.

"We worked unbelievably hard. We said before the game that while we want to play our style, we have to find a way to win as well. 

"Sometimes it wasn't very pretty - and not very Swansea-like - but we showed enough to get us over the line and pick up the three points that we deserved.

"Maybe we weren't as good as we can be possession-wise today, but in terms of character, we were brilliant.

"All credit to West Brom as well. We know that any Tony Pulis side would keep going and cause us difficulties, but I felt we coped exceptionally well.

"We have to pull together a string of victories now. The players will take belief from this. It's a boost that we are out of the bottom three, but we need to keep building."

Meanwhile, Curtis also highlighted Leon Britton's starring role in today's display as symbolic of Swansea's battling performance.

He added: "I think Leon epitomised our performance today - I thought he was outstanding. 

"He has been so fundamental to the team for the past 12 years. He's two games away from 500 games for the club, and he showed just how outstanding he is again today."

West Brom boss Tony Pulis, on the other hand, was left disappointed to come away from the game with nothing after what he felt was a hard-working performance from his side. 

"We're disappointed," said Pulis. "We came here to try and have a go, and we set ourselves out to get after them and work them as much as we could.

"I thought we worked hard, and there is no way we should have lost this game."