Steve Cooper | I am proud of the players

Steve Cooper spoke of his pride in his players after they kept their nerve amidst the hurly burly of a South Wales derby to claim victory at the Liberty Stadium.

Ben Wilmot got the only goal of the game as he headed in Wayne Routledge’s cross in the 24th minute.

In truth, the Swans could easily have won by a greater margin with George Byers being denied by the bar, and Routledge, Andre Ayew and Bersant Celina all missing presentable chances.

But it did not matter as the Swans claimed the bragging rights with a fine performance in front of a passionate and fervent home support.

“I know how important the game is, we were representing a proud city that gets behind its football club,” said the head coach.

“So, the fact we can make them happy and the fans can go away happy and proud of the performance, it makes us all very, very happy.

“I felt we were in control all game. It’s an easy game to lose to your emotions but I never felt under the cosh, that we were losing momentum or control of the game.

“We saw the game clearly, we dominated possession, created all the chances but were really hard to get through, which is exactly what we want to be.

“To do it on a bigger stage, which this is at this level, then it shows there are a lot of things going on.

“I am proud of all the players today for different reasons, but I really liked our younger players.

“There is so much new at the football club. There’s a new coaching team, we lost some big players in the summer and the chairman was only through the door in April.

“We lost a head of medicine, we have a new recruitment team and a new analysis team etc.

“There’s so much new going on, and because of that we will have highs and lows.

“But we are building for the future as well. We don’t spend loads of money, we are not going to spend loads of money, but that’s fine. That’s why I am here.

“They are a brilliant set of players to work with every single day. They are really proud to play for the football club.

“They want to learn and they want to get better. We have really good senior players, who are role models and younger players striving to get better.

“So, it's a time to take a deep breath. We have done a really good job, we are really proud. We send the supporters away really happy.

“But we have to stay calm, stay level, enjoy it for another hour or so and get on to the Wigan game.”