By David Williams
Steve Cooper praised the quality of his team’s “brilliant” goals as his Swansea City team kept up their Championship automatic promotion campaign with a 3-1 victory at Rotherham.
The visitors were in a commanding position at the break as fine strikes from the edge of the box from Conor Hourihane and skipper Matt Grimes gave them a two-goal advantage.
Rotherham fought back and half-time substitute Freddie Ladapo headed in from close-range from Wes Harding’s long throw.
But the points were sealed by Swans’ substitute Jay Fulton whose first touch was to angle a shot past Jamal Blackman after being found by Jake Bidwell.
Clark Robertson then rattled the bar as Rotherham refused to go down without a fight and Jamal Lowe was stopped from stretching Swansea’s lead further by Blackman.
Swansea are now nine unbeaten in all competitions as they kept the heat on leaders Norwich ahead of their showdown on Friday.
Head coach Cooper said: “It was really pleasing. To score three goals and get three points away from home is a good return.
“We scored three brilliant goals. They were class finishes and from good moves. It is how we want to play the game.
“We are disappointed with the goal we conceded. It was the only real chance Rotherham had in the game.
“Fair play to the lads. They calmed down and got the third goal.
“When you concede a goal it can go either way. You can let it bother you or you can quickly dust yourself off. That’s what we did. It was timely because I thought the game died off then and we saw it out comfortably.
He added of Fulton’s 74th-minute goal: “I was really pleased to see Jay score because he can go a little bit under the radar. It was an excellent finish.
“We have a week now to look forward to the next game. We can do work on the grass and reset a little bit. We need to revisit a few things on the training ground.”
Rotherham manager Paul Warne felt his side could have no complaints with the result and he was happy with their display.
He said: “I thought we played all right first half. They didn’t really cut us open. You’re fearful because Swansea are a really good team.
“Hourihane’s first goal was a great finish.
“I think the second goal was avoidable but it was another great strike. You go in at half-time and just tweaked it a little bit. We weren’t overly disappointed with our performance. I didn’t think there was much in it.
“If ever we needed a crowd in it was today. The game was pretty close but we didn’t have enough of an injection of pace or won enough second balls.
“It was just two little bits of quality and sometimes you just have to hold your hands up. I thought our lads gave a good account of themselves second half.
“We made loads of changes and at 2-1 I thought the game could have gone in either direction. With 20 minutes left I honestly thought we would get something.
“We were just done by a little bit of extra quality.
“It was another great finish for their third goal and that was ‘game over’. Sometimes you have to accept the fact that the opposition beat you.
“Their finishes were excellent and they go away with the three points.”