Laudrup hails spirited display

Michael Laudrup was eager to praise his side's show of character and team spirit after Swansea City made it three Barclays Premier League wins out of three at Craven Cottage.

The Swans battled to a 2-1 victory over Fulham after an own-goal by Aaron Hughes was cancelled out by a spectacular curling effort by Scott Parker.

Laudrup's side had the last say as Jonjo Shelvey smashed home the winner with just ten minutes left on the clock.

After beating two Fulham defenders on the edge of the 18-yard box, the young English midfielder unleashed a fierce shot that gave Maarten Stekelenburg simply no chance.

The win takes Swansea up to 10th in the league table, and Laudrup believes this afternoon's result was crucial for his side as they prepare to enter a busy period of fixtures.

 

"A win is always important - an away win sometimes even more," explained the Great Dane.

"After what happened in the last game [against Stoke], which we felt we should have won, we needed the result.

"We knew that Fulham would be a really difficult opponent today.

"If they had beaten us this afternoon, they would have gone above us and away from the relegation zone.

"All of these things together made it a very important game for both of us.

"We start 12 games in six weeks with a win like this, which brings positivity and confidence into the group.

"We can take that into Thursday [against Valencia in the Europa League], even if it is a different competition."

But what pleased the Swans boss most, this afternoon, was his side's performance.

"Apart from the win, which of course is great, I think the performance, during the last 20 minutes of the first-half and the whole of the second-half, was excellent.

"Even when we were 1-0 up and dominating the game, they score a great goal from a set-piece. But then we come back and continue to dominate the second-half.

"For me, it was important to show the character and spirit that we have in our team.

"We already showed it against Stoke, coming back from two goals down, and when we found ourselves at 1-1 today, we didn't just drop our heads, we continued to go for the three points, and we got the winning goal.

I have to say I'm really pleased with the win and with a great performance."

Meanwhile, Fulham boss Martin Jol felt his side could have taken something from the game, had they taken their chances.

"It was evident today that we needed the points," said Jol. "But if you don't score, you can't win games.

"They had players missing and we had the chance to beat them. You have to take the opportunities in this league and we didn't."