Swans boss delighted at response in Hornets win

STEVE Cooper believes his Swansea City players felt they had unfinished business against Watford following their stalemate with Reading in midweek.

Swansea were unable to find a way past a stubborn Royals side last Wednesday night but responded with a fine display to beat the Hornets 2-1 at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.

Victory lifted Swansea to second in the Championship table as they reached the midway point of the 2020-21 campaign.

And Cooper felt his side were far superior against Watford.

“I think it was the right result and 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 happens when it’s only a one-goal margin.

“The idea was to really commit to playing with the ball. I felt that we could build out from the back, through their formation and find obvious spaces to play in.

“We showed great character and resilience after going 1-0 down against the run of play to not let it faze us and carry on as we were.

“I’m really pleased that we’ve won after playing like that because of the other night. We were just as good against Reading. We could still be playing against Reading and it’d still be 0-0.

“Today felt a little bit like unfinished business from the other night because we knew we played well.

“The lads were brilliant today. They got the right rewards.”

Jamal Lowe struck in both halves as Swansea came from behind against fellow promotion candidates Watford.

The summer signing took his goal tally for the season to eight, moving him level with Andre Ayew.

And Cooper believes Lowe – who now has six goals in his last six outings – is reaping the rewards of his hard work since moving to South Wales from Wigan Athletic.

“He’s just got to keep going. Even when he wasn’t scoring, he was playing really well,” added Cooper.

“He’s a great lad, works hard and wants to get better. I thought his goals were brilliant.

“The first one was Jam being Jam in terms of getting in a good area and being really positive and the second goal was a number nine goal. Jamal will get the headlines I’m sure, but everyone was excellent.”

Joel Latibeaudiere pulled out with a calf problem suffered in the warm-up.