'A fantastic result for us'

15th December
First team

Graham Potter saluted his players’ desire after Swansea City came back from a goal down to beat Sheffield Wednesday.

The Swans were in danger of suffering what would have been a painful home defeat after Marco Matias fired the Owls in front on 63 minutes.

But not for the first time this season, Potter’s men showed plenty of character as they dug deep to dig out victory.

Substitute Bersant Celina swept home the Swans’ equaliser on 71 minutes before Wayne Routledge struck what proved to be the winner just a minute later.

“It’s a fantastic result for the players and the supporters,” Potter said.

“It was a pretty awful afternoon in terms of the weather and the supporters were great for us.

“They stuck with and helped us and overall I thought we got the result we deserved in the end.

“I thought we did enough to win. It was great for Bersant to come on and score the first goal and turn the game around for us.

“It’s really nice for the team to do that again. Once again they have shown their mentality – that they have the ability to recover from mistakes and recover from setbacks.”

The Swans had looked the side more likely to open the scoring, though they did not create a huge number of chances before Wednesday went ahead.

The visitors pounced after Joe Rodon was dispossessed on the edge of his own box, with substitute Matias rifling beyond Erwin Mulder.

But a sweet passing move ended in Celina guiding home to level, and Routledge then ran on to the Kosovan’s through ball before scoring for the second time in a week to seal the Swans’ second straight win.

“We started the game well – in difficult conditions we were good for 20 or 25 minutes,” Potter added.

“Then the opposition came back into it a bit, but overall I was reasonably happy with the first half.

“On a day like this there are always likely to be a couple of mistakes, and their goal came from one of them.

“We got nervy for five or 10 minutes after that but, not for the first time, our subs have come on and made a difference.

“That shows the sort of group we have. Players are disappointed not to start, but then they come on and affect the game.”

Mike van der Hoorn was substituted at half-time, with Potter explaining that the centre-back was feeling unwell.

“He was really ill with a virus before the game,” said the Swans boss.

“He felt okay to start, but I don’t think the conditions helped him. He was too poorly so we didn’t want to risk him.”