Cooper says extent of Ayew injury unknown after draw
SWANSEA boss Steve Cooper admits he does not know how long his side will be without star man Andre Ayew for as they chase promotion to the Premier League.
The Ghana striker limped out of the 2-2 draw with bottom-of-thetable Wycombe at the Liberty Stadium with a hamstring injury and is set to miss Tuesday night’s home game with QPR.
“I don’t want to speculate really until it settles down. We’ll scan it and find out the extent of the injury,” said Cooper.
“You can’t walk off after eight or so minutes and then play a few days later unless there’s something extraordinary. It will be 24 or 48 hours before we know the extent of the injury.”
Third-place Swansea found themselves 2-0 down six minutes into the second half and facing a calamitous defeat before mounting a late charge with Jamal Lowe’s penalty and substitute Liam Cullen’s goal to take a point.
With second-place Watford losing 1-0 at Luton it meant they closed the gap on second place, and an automatic promotion spot, to six points. They meet Watford at Vicarage Road on the final day of the season.
“It’s a missed opportunity. We wanted to win and take all three points, especially after playing so well in the last two games,” said Cooper.
“We didn’t play well enough in the first half and we tried to sort that our at half-time. Then we gave away two soft goals at the start of the second half.
“At 2-0 down the players showed a lot of heart to get back into the game.
“We shouldn’t lose sight of that, although a few of them looked tired after three games in a week.
“I was left with mixed emotions after the game – the result could have been worse, but also a lot better. It’s going to be an interesting few weeks and whatever there is to play for we will do so.”
If Cooper had mixed emotions, the Wycombe players were “gutted” afterwards according to manager Gareth Ainsworth. Not only did they go two goals up, but they hit the post in the dying minutes with the scores level.
“I’m frustrated, but full of pride. We were fantastic today, scored the better goals and I thought we were unfortunate not to get a penalty like they did,” said Ainsworth.
“But I am amazingly proud of my boys. To come here and do what we have done is fantastic because Swansea were one of most pre-season favourites for promotion and Steve Cooper is one of the best managers.
“Since the turn of year, we have probably shown mid-table form. We started the season badly, but we have learned and adapted – I am really excited for the future of this football club.”