It was the late show against on Friday night as the Swans dug deep with Jamie Paterson’s 94th minute winner seeing off Preston at the Swansea.com Stadium to seal a vital 2-1 victory. An overdue win in SA1 having gone seven games without a victory at home since beating Norwich in October.
Under Sheehan, a seven-point return from four matches has shown the fight and resilience of the team under their caretaker boss. With the result against the Lilywhites, all be it not pretty at times, the Swans have rallied to pick up crucial points late in games.
Now back on their travels, the Swans are pitted against former boss Russell Martin and his new side Southampton for the first time since his summer departure from South Wales. The Saints are flying high in fourth and are on a 15-game unbeaten run place in the league coming into the festive period.
Whilst Sheehan is under no illusions of the test that lies ahead, the Irishman is keen however to focus on how the Swans can hurt their opponents and build on momentum.
“We know about them and where they are in the table, but I would rather focus on us and how we can build and improve as a team,” said Sheehan.
“We know the challenge and what to expect. I’ve come up against him [Russell Martin] before as part of the coaching staff and understand it will be a difficult game. All games though are difficult [in the Championship] in different ways.
“We’d love to go there and put on a performance for the fans and try and make it back-to-back wins.
“Sometimes you have to grind it out and two moments of quality from Jamie Paterson [against Preston] won the game [on Friday]. We weren’t at our best, but we won against a side in the top half of the table.
“Can it be the kick-start, maybe. I’m really proud though of the players character and resilience to stay in games. They don’t lie down and keep going till the end.
“The aim now is to build confidence, resilience and a desire to win, we can improve on that.
“It’s seven points from 12 so it’s progression, not perfection but we can work on that.”
Sheehan also revealed that Josh Key will be assessed ahead of the match after picking up a heavy knock in the second half of the match against Preston.
“Josh [Key] is going to be assessed, he is with the physios. He is different to what we have with his energy, tempo and athleticism that we have missed [when he was injured],” continued Sheehan.
“We’ve played him in a higher position to get more penetration from the back. Unfortunately, he got a knock, hopefully, he’ll be ok. We took him off for precaution.
“I’m expecting a big challenge from them [Southampton]. We will see where we can hurt them. It’s a game that we really want to win.”
[Lead image: Swansea City]
