‘Happy’ Baston back to his best with double as Swansea reap rich reward

Steve Cooper, the Swansea City manager, acclaimed a rejuvenated Borja Baston after his matchwinning performance against Preston North End.

The £15million Spanish striker went 1,022 days without a Swansea goal before the start of this season but, after his double in the 3-2 victory at the weekend, now has three goals in as many Championship games.

He scored an equaliser against the run of play on the stroke of half-time, before heading home the winner in the 69th minute to move his side on to seven points from their first three games.

“Borja is happy, he is a big character who is very well liked in the dressing room and you can see he is enjoying life in Swansea,” Cooper said. “You look at his two finishes, they are outstanding No9 finishes. The first, he calmly puts that in and the header was fantastic. We saw parts of Borja at his best today, and that is being in the box scoring goals.

“That’s what No9s hopefully do best. He is scoring a lot of goals in training and working hard.”

Nathan Jones, the Stoke City manager, blasted his players for throwing more points away after their 2-2 draw with Derby County.

Stoke responded to going behind early on. They drew level after 32 minutes, when Liam Lindsay headed home from a corner. Then, after twice hitting the woodwork, they took the lead when Scott Hogan smashed home after 56 minutes. But Martyn Waghorn pegged Stoke back with his second goal.

“I am devastated with the result,” Jones said. “I work so hard. I do 12 hours a day, seven days a week to plan and put structures in place. I am distraught we couldn’t get one more goal than the opposition, because we created twice as many chances. I am sick and tired of us missing chances.”

Marcelo Bielsa hailed the continued improvement of Leeds United after his side cemented their place at the top of the Championship with a 2-0 win at Wigan Athletic. “The performance increases game by game,” Bielsa said.