Steve Cooper | It was a brilliant performance

Steve Cooper hailed a “brilliant” performance from Swansea City as they came from behind to beat Watford and start 2021 with a bang.

Jamal Lowe was at the double for the Swans as they climbed to second in the table courtesy of an excellent showing where they bossed the majority of proceedings against a Hornets side boasting a number of players who featured for them in the Premier League last term.

The hosts also overcame the loss of Joel Latibeaudiere to injury in the warm-up, with Ryan Manning coming into the side and Jake Bidwell moving to centre-half.

And Cooper could not hide his delight at an ideal start to the new year, as they moved on from the frustration of being unable to find a winner against Reading.

“I think it was the right result and it was the consequence of a brilliant performance,” he said.

“I thought we were by far the superior team. We gave up a bit of territory late on but that’s normal; that happens when there’s only a one-goal margin. 

“I thought we were excellent, the idea was to really commit to playing with the ball today, we felt like we could build up from the back through their formation and find obvious spaces to play in and I’m just pleased that we got the goals from that.  

“As well as we played, I’m really happy that we showed great character and resilience after going a goal down against the run of play. It didn’t faze us too much and we carried on as we were. 

“It’s an excellent performance and I’m really pleased that we’ve won playing like that because of the other night. We were just as good against Reading, but I think we could still be playing now and it would still be 0-0. 

“I’m pleased for the players because they got what they deserved.”