'A point is like gold for us'

Carlos Carvalhal reckons Swansea City got their hands on a piece of “gold” after they came from behind to claim a 1-1 draw at Leicester.

The Swans are out of the bottom three on goal difference after Federico Fernandez’s second-half header cancelled out a 17th-minute Jamie Vardy strike from the hosts.

Carvalhal’s side did not play with the kind of fluency they had produced in their midweek victory over Arsenal.

But the Swans boss could take satisfaction from a result which means he has lost just one of his first nine games in charge.

“We are very happy to get a point because a point is like gold for us at the moment,” Carvalhal said.

“I have said since I arrived that I will not look at the league table too much, but of course when you see that we are not under the water, we are happy.

“What’s really important, though, is that we keep on progressing.”

The Swans had never previously claimed a point at the King Power Stadium, but they changed that record thanks to a gritty second-half fightback.

The visitors were disappointing in the first half, with Vardy taking one of a couple of big chances Leicester created.

But Carvalhal’s men responded early in the second period when Fernandez nodded home Ki Sung-Yueng’s corner, and then dug deep to hold on for the draw.

“Something important today is that my boys reacted after we went behind,” Carvalhal added.

“We were losing against Watford and against Arsenal and we came back to win those games.

“Today, in a difficult stadium against a difficult team, we came back to get a point.

“That shows you that the mental part of my team is very strong. The players were always focused on what they must do. They were calm and they achieved a point.

“We are happy because the history of Swansea at Leicester is very poor. We haven’t won here since 1950 and we lost the last seven, but we broke this run.

“We got a point and we need that in the position we are in.”

Carvalhal acknowledged that his team had struggled to cope with Leicester’s forward line in the first half, but was pleased with the way they responded later in the game.

“They are one of the strongest teams in the competition and at home they are very good,” he continued.

“We didn’t perform to our level in the first half and that’s easy to explain. We prepared for some other players. When Leicester played with different players, it was difficult for us solve some problems.

“They scored one goal and had some chances, but in the last 10 minutes of the first half we started to play our football.

“Then we corrected some things at half-time. We tried to press more and we blocked their dynamic in the second half.

“We played higher up the pitch and we scored from a set-piece, which we have worked hard on, so we are happy.”