In an impressive team performance, Zan Vipotnik’s double and strikes from Goncalo Franco and substitute Malick Yalcouye brushed aside a sorry Owls side destined for relegation after the thumping.
The Swans are up to 15th in the Championship – their highest position in more than three months and now face a run of fixtures against four play-off rivals in as many games. A period that, if all goes well, could position Matos’ side firmly in the reckoning to remarkably challenge for a top-six placing.
Swansea, who have won three of their past four matches, return to action with a trip to ninth-placed Derby County next weekend knowing victory would put them level on points with the Rams.
They then face back-to-back home fixtures against two more play-off contenders, Bristol City and Preston, before a trip to high-flying Ipswich Town.
The Portuguese boss, though, is just looking at one game at a time, making sure the squad is the best they can be to compete in a division where games are won and lost on small margins.
“What’s most important is what I said since the first day – the squad has a lot of potential,” said Matos after the match.
“We needed to make the squad the best possible team to compete. That’s what we are still doing. That’s what we are trying and this is what drives us.
“That’s the championship this season as well. You win one game, you think you are close to the play-offs.
“You lose one game, you think you are close to the relegation.
“So being emotionally stable is quite important. That’s what mindset we need to have.”
But the fact is that if Matos’ men can maintain the form they have produced over the past three months, they could push themselves into top-six contention in the final stages of the season.
“Yeah, but for that [to happen] we need to keep improving and that’s why we cannot focus on the product and we need to focus on the process,” Matos added.
“That’s what, until this moment, made us what we are and I think that’s what we need to do for the next game, because then it is again three games in a short period of time after that one.
“That makes us again in a really tough place because we play a game, two days, game, two days, game.”
[Lead image: Swansea City FC]
