Goal and shiner for Roberts
SWANSEA City boss Steve Cooper hailed black-eyed match-winner Connor Roberts for epitomising his side’s spirit during the 1-0 away win against Nottingham Forest.
Despite being half-a-foot shorter than the towering 6ft 4in Sammy Ameobi, Roberts outjumped the Forest attacker at the far post to head in Andre Ayew’s 43rd-minute cross and seal the victory that moved his team up to fourth in the Championship table.
He also picked up a shiner in the process after clashing heads with Ameobi for the decisive goal that earned the Swans their first victory at the City Ground since 2006.
Of the Welsh international’s bravery, Cooper said: “Connor epitomised our performance today. We had our wing-back in the opposition box leaping over their 6ft 4in player, who is a really good player, and banging his head to get us a goal.
“He’s done that before and will do it for us again, even though he’s got a black eye from it.
“He has been excellent since we came back from lockdown and his challenge now is to just keep it going because he won’t want to look back at the end of the season and say ‘I had a great start to the season, but then it was a bit up and down’, but I don’t think that will happen with him.”
On his side’s first win on the road in five outings, Cooper added: “We came here with a real intention to take the game to them.
“That was the objective and to deliver a performance like we did was really, really good because, apart from the teams that have come down from the Premier League, they are one of the strongest clubs in terms of their resources.”