Steve Cooper | Our feet are already back on the ground

Steve Cooper says he and his Swansea City players already have their feet back on the ground, and are fully focused on the task of taking on Brentford in the Championship play-off semi-finals.

The Swans snatched their place in the top six at the death, with a 4-1 win over Reading allowing them to leapfrog Nottingham Forest, who lost by the same scoreline against Stoke.

Such an outcome had looked improbable with less than half an hour to play, but Cooper’s side held their nerve to ensure their season will extend by at least two more games.

Those will come against a Brentford side who finished third, suffering disappointment as defeats in their final two games ensured they missed out on automatic promotion.

The Bees came out on top twice against the Swans during the regular season, but play-off football is a very different beast and Cooper made clear that any celebrations from Wednesday night are already done and dusted.

“We are already back down to earth,” said the head coach.

“When you have players like Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge, it does not take long.

“We had a moment in the dressing room, and why shouldn’t we?

“But there is a realisation we are back in training and we have two more games, maybe three, to prepare for.

“It’s a small pat on the back and a well done, but there are bigger prizes to go for.

“We are so pleased with the boys, but we cannot take our eye off the ball.

“There are two games coming up, we are in a good place, we will stick to how we work. We will be ready.”

But Cooper did praise his side for their fine form following the resumption of the season, taking 17 points from a possible 27 to earn their top-six spot.

He hopes they can carry that momentum forward.

“It’s not just the Reading game, we have won a  lot of games since coming back from lockdown,” he added.

“Performances have been good, we had a setback against Luton but there was no hiding place and we stepped up and were counted and got good results in a lot of tough games.

“Momentum is good, but we have to focus on ourselves, to keep going with how we do things, and that will stand us in good stead.”