Duff targeting improved away day showing at Preston 

Having only picked up two points from their opening three league matches, the former Barnsley head-coach believes improvements have been shown but it will take time for the rewards to be seen on the pitch. 

Duff felt the Swans last weekend’s 1-1 draw against play-off finalists Coventry City was a good point but will also know that his side will need a win soon to keep both morale and season expectations on course. In a competitive game with few chances, both teams defended astutely but lacked a cutting edge in the final third.

The high point for the home side being Jerry Yates’ headed finish from a Harrison Ashby cross to equal the scores just before half-time.  The Swans new number nine’s second in as many games at the Swansea.com Stadium immediately cancelling out Matt Godden’s opener for the Sky Blues minutes earlier. Despite an improved second-half showing offensively though, the Swans were unable to claim the three points. 

Yates’ goals now more than ever are likely to be a key factor in how the Swans place in the Championship table come what May. The departure of leading scorer of the previous two seasons Joel Piroe late on Thursday evening, emphasing both the need to get the best out of the former Blackpool forward, whilst bringing in a replacement for his strike partner must be the number one priority before next Friday’s transfer window slams shut. 

For now, whilst the Swans look to recruit behind the scenes, Northern-Irishman Duff is purely focused on improving his sides on pitch form, starting tomorrow afternoon against an unbeaten Preston side in Lancashire. 

“It is a long away trip. Any game in this league is competitive. They have had a good start and have a lot of Championship know-how as a team and have been together quite a lot of time,” said Duff.

“We will have to do better than we did at West Brom. We have to move the ball quicker with more precision. We can’t concede goals from crosses like we did and set plays. If you give up goals like that in this league it’s tough, it doesn’t matter where you go.

“There were things in the Coventry game that we were really pleased with. We defended set plays. We were resilient and hard to beat. They only had two shots on target in the whole game. 

“There are loads of things you can do better, but you can’t do everything straight away. The most important thing from my point of view is to see things progress that we are working on in the training ground. 

“We have talked about being hard to beat and improving on set plays. With the ball, we can be loads better, but we need to get the balance between possession and giving up chances.”

With a fully fit squad to choose from, Duff believes that with hard work, the Swans can come away from Deepdale with a positive result.

“There are no injuries, but Josh Ginnelly has some sort of illness so we will have to see where that is at, but Liam Walsh is back of the grass, so that is a positive,” continued Duff.

“Gino [Josh Ginnelly] is getting fitter and fitter, he is the closest to being involved. It was Myko’s [Kukarevich] first minutes and Nathan’s [Tjoe-A-On] first minutes [In the 4-1 under-21 win over Barnsley].  They are both young players and have been brought in to be developed. Not that they’re not ready for the first team, but we don’t envisage them starting 46 league games this season.

“It is trying to get them fit as quickly as we can and as they are both from overseas. It’s getting them to gain an understanding of what English football looks like. 

“It takes time to implement things, you can’t go in rip it up and create ideas without time. It is a results-based game, but we have lost one game all season. It is the weirdness of football where you need this and need that. You just need though to keep working.” 

(Lead image: Swansea City FC)