Martin praises Jamie Paterson impact

Russell Martin praised the impact of Jamie Paterson as the midfielder marked his return to the side by setting up Swansea City’s winner against Blackburn Rovers.

Paterson featured for the first time since December 11 against Rovers, but took just 16 minutes to pick up where he left off.

The 30-year-old drifted infield from the left to float a fantastic cross onto the head of Michael Obafemi, who did the rest with a fine header.

And Swans boss Martin was pleased to see him return to the side and make his mark.

“We spoke about it before as a group of staff, and I was confident he would be welcomed back positively because of what he has done for us so far this season,” said Martin.

“I have been honest and I don’t see what has happened as Pato’s fault. It’s not easy to ignore the outside noise at times as a professional footballer, and he was not able to do that.

“That is not just him, it’s the same for a lot of footballers with things like social media, and it really affected him.

“Hopefully this has drawn a line under it because he played, he played really well and played 90 minutes somehow, even if we did not want him to play the whole game but he had to as Olivier (Ntcham) had to come off.

“He created a goal, there were a couple of moments of madness when he was really tired but we accept that because he is one of the bravest players we have.

“He brings a real different energy to the dressing room, he relaxes players, he is a real leader and it has been great that we have been able to maintain a brilliant relationship between me and him, him and the coaching staff and him and the players.

“I am pleased for him and I am pleased for the group.”