By David Williams
Jamal Lowe believes Swansea City will not be wiped from the 2021 automatic promotion race – even though former England goalkeeper Ben Foster might edit Lowe’s goal celebration from his next YouTube video.
The Swans striker celebrated the first of his two goals against Watford at the weekend by running towards and then pointing directly into Foster’s GoPro camera, positioned in the back of the net.
That’s where the ball had just nestled and where Lowe put it for a second time later as he secured a 2-1 victory that moved his team into second-place in the Championship.
“Before the game, one of the boys was talking about Ben Foster’s YouTube channel, The Cycling Goalkeeper,” said Lowe, whose winner was his sixth goal in as many games.
“A lot of the boys are fans of it, watch it, and say it’s a good laugh. I said, ‘If I score today I’m going to try and make it on his next video.’
“That was the story behind it, Hopefully, I make the cut, but he’ll probably crop it out, to be fair.”
The goals that propelled Swansea up to second-place in the table capped a productive holiday period of three wins and a draw for head coach Steve Cooper’s side.
It also confirmed just how crucial Lowe has become to Swansea’s promotion push and perhaps why Cooper is looking for some high quality back-up for the second half of the season, should the striker get injured.
Vikto Gyokeres has looked unlikely to fulfil that role in the opportunities the on-loan Brighton striker has been given so far, which may explain why Cooper is being linked with a loan move for Southampton striker Michael Obafemi.
Lowe, 26, had not played as a striker since he was 12 before Cooper snapped him up for a bargain £800,000 last summer with a view to converting him.
“It’s something which made a lot of sense because I scored a lot more goals than most wingers. It’s still a different role with a lot to learn, though.”
His main teacher is the man Lowe calls The King – Andre Ayew, and as the influence of Ghanaian royalty has waned under tight defences, Lowe has blossomed.
“I’ve got the king (Ayew) next to me who is obviously a top striker and has been for years.
“He’s a big player and I watch, train and speak with him every day. He helps me and I do a lot of video work with the gaffer and Marshy (assistant coach Mike Marsh).
“It’s also out and out training. We do a lot of work in our shape and it’s just practicing where to move. If I make a mistake or go in the wrong place, I soon find out the ball is not going there. You get to learn the players, the position, and the role.
“It took a while to start with, that’s the truth. It’s taken a lot of time on the training ground and in the video room watching clips and learning which way to move.
“It’s a big change. Playing on the wing is a lot different to playing up front where you have your back to goal and are making different runs and different movements.
“You’re playing against predominantly the most physical players in the centre backs. Normally I’m playing against the right back or left back who are a little bit smaller or weaker.
“I might be able to dominate them, but I definitely can’t dominate a lot of the centre backs in the league. It’s about trying to learn how to use your strengths against them.”
Lowe’s switch was a hunch of Cooper’s – a conviction so sharply felt by the coach that he had foreseen the change even before he signed the player last summer.
“He (Cooper) told me he had a vision and he saw me as a striker. With the style of football we play it’s not all long balls like some teams who need a 6”5 striker.
⬆️ Swansea to second
💥 2-1 victory over promotion rivals
6️⃣ Six in six for Jamal Lowe@SwansOfficial | #Swans | @JamzLowe pic.twitter.com/Sj0BR6ikrP— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) January 3, 2021
“Andre is not 6”5 and neither am I. With the style of football we play you don’t have to be the traditional striker and that helps me as do the players we have around.”
With the Swans occupying second place and seven points cleat of seventh-placed Middlesbrough, Lowe says the target is automatic promotion and that the play-offs are merely a back-up plan.
“Our mindset is to win and not just to stay in the top six and see how it goes, but to push for the top two,” added Lowe.
“That’s been our mindset from day one, it’s what the gaffer told me, and it’s inside everyone here.
“I can’t say I’m surprised, where we are although I don’t mean to sound cocky. The players we have are good players.
“They were in the play-offs last year and that wasn’t by fluke. This year it’s about hopefully going one step better, getting in the top two, and staying there.
“It’s not like when Leicester won the league and everyone was surprised.
It comes from the back. I think we’ve got the most clean sheets in the league. You hear people say ‘Swansea don’t blow anyone away – they only win by one goal’ but if we win, we win.
“It’s not who scores the most, it’s who has got the most points so we don’t really care. Our success is based off clean sheets, conceding very little, and we know we’ve got the players to create chances.”