Matt Grimes | We have to back up midweek performance

Captain Matt Grimes says it is essential Swansea City back up their performance against Stoke City in midweek with another positive showing on Saturday when they host Rotherham United.

The Swans skipper put in a man-of-the-match performance in the centre of the park as the team beat the Potters 3-0 at the Swansea.com Stadium on Wednesday.

Liam Cullen opened the scoring from a well-worked set-piece in the 20th minute, and Grimes doubled the lead from the penalty spot shortly after the break, before Josh Key finished off a counter-attack with 15 minutes remaining to cap off a good performance and seal three points.

But Grimes feels the most important thing now is to bring the same intensity over the final run of Championship fixtures, starting with Saturday’s home clash with relegated Rotherham United.

“It’s a massive confidence boost to get the win, but we need to stay at those standards, we need to keep that intensity,” he said.

“That performance was much needed after the last couple of displays. We really dropped below our standards intensity wise, so to put on a display like that, which was full of energy and running, and backing each other up, was brilliant. 

“The Middlesbrough game was a disgrace, I thought we were shocking, probably as bad as we’ve been all season. We were so flat, we didn’t turn up at all.

“We knew we needed a reaction against Stoke, showing that intensity and getting a result, which we did.

“That’s how we want to play. It’s been frustrating the fact we did so well in a lot of games leading up to the Cardiff game, and it was almost as if the Cardiff game was the cut-off point.

“I thought we were alright against Sheffield Wednesday, we were poor against Queens Park Rangers, and abysmal against Middlesbrough so we needed to show a reaction and we did that.

“It’s a quick turnaround for Rotherham, but we need to rest up and be ready to do the same again.

“It’s essential we put in another good performance on Saturday. That will be the message, and then we have to do the same at Huddersfield and finish the season really strongly.

“We’ve not given the fans a lot to celebrate this season to be honest with you, especially at home, so playing in that way is vitally important to give them a boost.

“They pay their hard-earned money to come to the games, and they want to see a team that is exciting, playing on the front foot and winning games and that’s what we have to give them.”