By Paul Jones
Steve Cooper heaped praise on Rhian Brewster after the Swansea City striker gave a performance as powerful as the anti-racism message he displayed at Middlesbrough
The 20-year-old Liverpool loanee struck twice inside three first-half minutes, unveiling a T-shirt bearing the message “Our colour is not a crime” while celebrating the first, as the Swans ran out 3-0 winners at the Riverside Stadium on their return to action.
Andre Ayew wrapped up a win which keeps his team firmly in the race for the play-offs with a 34th-minute penalty on a day when struggling Boro, who have won only twice in the league since the turn of the year, simply gave themselves too much to do with a dreadful start.
Swans manager Cooper said: “In the first half in particular, Rhian looked a real threat. He got his two goals – he was disappointed he didn’t have three.
“He’s a really good player, but we are a team that likes to play as a team. Rhian obviously will get some headlines today because he’s got a brace, but it’s as a consequence of the team playing the way we want to play.
“To win 3-0 away from home is a fantastic result at any time in the season, never mind after however many months without playing.
“We deserved the clean sheet and could have scored a fourth as well. It’s a fantastic result and a great re-start for us. It is important to enjoy victories like this. It was a real team performance.”
Middlesbrough manager Jonathan Woodgate admitted: “It’s hard to explain that type of performance. It wasn’t nice to see.
“In the week if you had seen how we were training, it was very good and to turn in a performance like that isn’t good enough. But we’ve got a week to put it right now.”
“We were very poor and got caught too easily. Swansea have some excellent players and we just couldn’t live with them.
“It is not nice to see that kind of performance and it wasn’t good enough. There were no signs on the training ground of that performance coming.”
The Swans went ahead when Ayew slipped in behind right-back Jonny Howson once again and crossed for Brewster to side-foot home.
The England U21 international doubled his tally with just 21 minutes gone with a scuffed volley from Kalulu’s right-wing cross to leave the Teessiders in deep trouble, and their plight worsened before the break when Ayew converted from the spot after Conor Gallagher had been tripped.