Nathan Dyer and Daniel James earn manager praise as Swansea beat Brentford

Posted Wednesday, April 03, 2019 by PA

Swansea manager Graham Potter reserved special praise for wingers Nathan Dyer and Daniel James as his side sealed a comfortable 3-0 Championship win at home to Brentford.

Dyer scored after just 32 seconds and added a second before the break to record his first league goals since August 2014, while James made the game safe late on to top an excellent display.

Potter said: “I was hoping Nathan would get a hat-trick.

“He has had an interesting season and it is great for him to get rewarded for influencing the game.

“It was a great assist from the goalkeeper for his second goal and Daniel did great for the first one.

“It was another big performance from Dan. He started well and he has such courage. He gets kicked about, but he gets back up and goes again.”

Potter had seen his team lose four-straight matches prior to meeting the Bees.

“I am delighted. The performance in the first half was of a really high level,” he said. “We hit the crossbar a couple of times and had real courage.

“I am really pleased for the players as they have had a bit of pain. We were aware of the quality of our performances, but we had not turned those into results.

“It is nice to do that tonight and get three points.”

Dyer opened the scoring as James capitalised on a poor backpass from Brentford defender Mads Bech Sorensen.

Bees goalkeeper Luke Daniels wiped out James and was booked, but referee Peter Bankes played advantage and Dyer could not miss.

James struck the crossbar with a curling effort and Bersant Celina and Connor Roberts both went close before Dyer made it 2-0.

Swansea goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt hammered the ball down field in route one fashion, the Brentford defence was all at sea and Dyer slotted the ball through Daniels’ legs.

Celina struck the crossbar with a free-kick before the break and should have made it 3-0 early in the second half, but James scored Swansea’s third late on after Roberts had struck the post.

Brentford manager Thomas Frank said: “In the last four games we have had no wins, but if you look at the performances, I would say they have been OK.

“Today the first-half performance was bad in every aspect. It doesn’t help if you concede two soft goals and one after 30 seconds.

“We knew Swansea are one of the best footballing sides in the division. They are very good on the ball.

“We had to do a lot of chasing and it meant that when we got the ball, we were tired.

“What Swansea did well compared to us was use their pace in behind, especially with James. He has the potential to be a Premier League player, but I hope Swansea can keep him.”