Proud Duff delighted at Swans togetherness after first league win 

The confidence-boosting win would be the Swans first of the league campaign and lifts Duff’s side out of the bottom three placings of the table. 

In a match-up of two sides prior to the game yet to taste three points, a first-half Jamal Lowe penalty and second-half strikes from Jerry Yates and Charlie Patino gave the under-fire Northern Irishman’s side a much-needed triumph with the Swans running out comfortable winners. 

For Duff, it would be the togetherness the players have shown through their seven-match winless run in the league that would be the catalyst for the rewards gained on the pitch. 

“The two overriding emotions are pride and relief. I’m proud of the players and the way they stuck together. 

“I thought we showed good energy and quality. The amount of times we pinched the ball high up the pitch I was maybe even a little bit disappointed we didn’t score more goals. 

“The difference in today was when we went 1-0 up, we had a moment when we started sitting in again and had a little bit of luck when they hit the crossbar.  

“The main difference between this Saturday and last week was the intensity to get on the ball and when we did turn it over it was a real pleasing point. 

“Once the second goal goes in you can feel the whole stadium in a sigh of relief more than a celebration. 

“Winning breeds confidence and that breeds better performances. 

“I’m really pleased with the supporters. We asked them on Thursday to come and support the team.  

“At 0-0 when they had started better than us, there were a couple of passes that went astray and there was no negativity in the ground. It doesn’t half help the players that in the togetherness they’ve shown and the togetherness the players have shown. 

“Everyone has been feeling it, there’s no getting away from it. The players want to do well, the supporters want to do well, we want to do well.  

“You need everyone’s nose pointing in the same direction and today I thought it was a little bit more like we want it to look. It takes time with lots of change and results will help that clearly.  

Duff would also be pleased with the contribution from his substitute’s bench all be it from two negative scenarios.  

Centre back Nathan Wood and the impressive Josh Ginnelly would both fall to what is now a growing injury list in the first half of the game to perhaps provide headaches for another day. 

However, for Duff despite losing two of his key players, the response from particularly forward Yates would be a plus point. 

“The subs came on and impacted the game in a positive way today. When Woody [Nathan Wood] went down in the first five minutes you do think – oh here we go. Then Gino [Josh Ginnelly] has a positive start and he has to come off with no one anywhere near him.  

“Woody has an ankle sprain; we don’t know how bad it is until we have the results of the scan. Gino is similar but the language he is using tells me it doesn’t look great. We’ll have to wait until Monday before we can give out any more information. 

“Jerry [Yates] has suffered a little bit. You can see him fighting with himself. He is a really good kid and has gone a little quiet around the training ground and you can see he is feeling it as well. 

“We have a young group that wants to do well for the football club. It’s almost a case that he was trying too hard.  

“Today he came off the bench early and didn’t have time to think about it. The ball stuck, he held it up well and scored a really good goal. The eleven players running over to support him shows me the togetherness of the group we have got. 

[Lead image: Swansea City FC]