Big Ben wins big praise from boss
Cabango bonus goal down to great technique, says Cooper
STEVE Cooper praised Ben Cabango’s desire after his header earned Swansea City all three points against Coventry City.
The Wales international notched his fourth goal of the campaign in the second half at the Liberty Stadium as the Swans bounced back from their 4-1 loss to Huddersfield Town at the weekend in style.
And Cooper has revealed coaches Alan Tate and Martin Margetson played a key role in Swansea’s winning goal against Mark Robins’ side while praising Cabango for his eagerness to nod home Conor Hourihane’s corner.
“It’s a bonus [goals from defenders]. It’s not a coincidence, it’s technique,” said the head coach.
“It’s a brilliant delivery, one that Alan Tate and Marg had highlighted and it just came off a tee.
“It was down to the delivery and desire from Ben to go and head it in.
“When you are creating some good chances in the game and you don’t score them, sometimes you do need a different way to win, and we got it through that way.
“It’s 1-0, we score off a set piece and people might just look at the highlights, but we played well tonight and created some good chances. I’m not overlooking that.
“He’s a bit of a throwback as a centre-half. Quite rightly, people will write about the goal, but he played really well tonight and he’s having a really good season for us - as is Marc [Guehi], [Ryan Bennett] Benno, Kyle [Naughton] and Joel [Latibeaudiere] who came on tonight.
“They are a handful, those Coventry strikers. We have seen what they’ve done to other teams - both the level of player they are and the experience and physicality they have.
“Our boys really dealt really comfortably with that tonight, which tells me they are making really good progress.”
Swansea created numerous openings during the course of the game while the visitors registered just one shot on target as Freddie Woodman kept his 17th Championship clean sheet of the season.
And Cooper admits the Swans were well worth the three points after improving from their sluggish display against Huddersfield at the weekend.
“I thought we deserved it. I thought we were the team who created the real chances in the game,” he added.