Cooper: Our superb fans carried us to Wembley

STEVE Cooper hailed the Jack Army for getting Swansea City over the line in their Championship play-off semi-final success against Barnsley.

Swansea drew 1-1 with the Tykes in the second leg at the Liberty Stadium to book their place in this weekend’s final against Brentford at Wembley after securing a 2-1 aggregate triumph.

Around 3,000 Swansea supporters were in attendance for the draw with Valerien Ismael’s side, their first opportunity to watch a game live in person since March 2020.

And speaking after the second leg, Cooper revealed the supporters made the difference as Swansea held on to clinch their place in the final.

“They got us over the line. Amazing,” said the head coach.

“When you’re watching the game, it felt like it was 35,000.

“The supporters really represented themselves and the ones who couldn’t get into the stadium, like Swansea City supporters do. That’s loud and proud.

“I was asked before the play-offs whether it was an advantage to be home or away and who we’d be playing, and I wasn’t sure.

“But it was an advantage to be home tonight because of the support we got from our people.

“We showed a lot of character and determination over the last two games.

“Respect to Barnsley and the journey that they’ve been on this year. They’ve been as inform a team as anybody in the second part of the season.

“They test you in a different way. It’s hard to play against and it’s hard to get rhythm in. So we knew we had to do certain parts of the game well, and we did.

“We’re going through a pandemic and they’re seeing a team that’s just fighting and giving everything they can for their people. That’s important to me.”

Captain Matt Grimes struck a sweet opener on 39 minutes to put Swansea 1-0 up on the night and 2-0 ahead in the tie.

Barnsley pushed forward in the second half and got back into the contest when Cauley Woodrow struck beyond Freddie Woodman.

But Swansea saw out the final stages to ensure their season was extended by another week.

The only sour note from a memorable night for Swansea was the injury suffered by Wayne Routledge. The experienced attacker had to be replaced by Connor Roberts eight minutes into the second half after suffering what looked to be a serious knee injury.