Russell Martin | We deserved the win after that brilliant start

2nd November
First team
Russell Martin

Russell Martin felt his Swansea City side had deserved their win after a fast start saw them end Coventry City’s unbeaten home record at the CBS Arena.

The Sky Blues had won six and drawn one since their return to their home ground – having recently had to play home games at Birmingham’s St Andrew’s Stadium – but they found themselves two goals down inside 12 minutes as the Swans flew out of the traps.

The deadly duo of Jamie Paterson and Joel Piroe were once again on the scoresheet. Paterson now has five goals in his last nine games, while the Dutchman is already in double figures for the season.

Kyle McFadzean got a goal back for the hosts from a first-half corner but, while the hosts did press late on, Swansea keeper Ben Hamer was rarely called into meaningful action.

And head coach Martin was a happy man after his players responded to his challenge to start reproducing their impressive home form on their travels, with this Swansea’s second away win of the Championship campaign as they climbed into the top half of the table.

"We came out of the traps brilliantly. So much energy, intensity and aggression," he said.

"We were playing against a really good team with a brilliant home record, a team that have had a lot of time with the coaching staff, who are excellent and we have a lot of respect for.

Joel Piroe

"We could have had a couple more goals early on, and it was really frustrating to concede the goal we did.

"We've been really strong at defensive set-pieces, so it's really disappointing because if we go in at half-time 2-0 up, it feels a little bit different.

"The end of the first half, it was tough for us. They were 2-1 down at home, nothing to lose, they're probably the most aggressive team we've played against.

"But I thought in the second half we really gained control back and then they had a flurry at the end which you expect, and we showed much courage and bravery to try and play the way we want to play. Ben Hamer in particular, some of the decisions he made were incredible.

"The guys dug in, showed a real character and willingness to work for each other and defend what we had.

“Unfortunately for us we were not quite clean enough on the counter-attack, we had a couple of situations to hurt them and kill it off.

“But there were some massive performances and I felt we deserved the win on the back of how we started the game and the chances we did create.”