Graham Potter impressed with Daniel James as Swansea end barren away run

Posted Tuesday, April 23, 2019 by PA

Swansea boss Graham Potter hailed the performance of striker Daniel James as his team ended a barren run of away form with a 1-0 win against Ipswich.

James’ strike from distance in the 57th minute struck a post and was followed up by Wayne Routledge for the only goal of the game as the Swans ended a run of seven consecutive defeats on the road with the victory at Portman Road.

Swansea kept their outside hopes of a play-off spot alive with the win, with the gap to sixth place standing at five points but the Swans have three games left.

Potter said: “I’ve been in football long enough to know that when it’s only 1-0, you can have a little action that goes against you and all of a sudden there’s an opportunity and a chance.

“I thought we were the better team and I thought we did control a lot of the game and had the better chances but we still needed our goalkeeper to make a really good save at 1-0.

“Really pleased for the boys, pleased for the supporters who came and watched that we could manage to hold on and get three important points.”

Speaking of James, the Swansea boss said: “He was a constant threat. He had a chance early, we used him through the middle just because the pitch was quite sticky and when Dan knocks it out of his feet, he’s so hard to catch.

“Apart from maybe some of his shooting decisions and execution I thought he was fantastic.”

Asked about his play-off chances, Potter said: ‘The fact that we’re going into the last week of the season and it’s still mathematically possible, (it’s) still a small chance but our task is to make sure we win our remaining games.

“We’ve got the next two games at home and we’ll see if 71 points is enough, unless we get that there’s no chance.”

One of Ipswich’s four wins of a dismal campaign came at the Liberty Stadium in October but the Blues never really looked like achieving their first double of the season.

Collin Quaner brought a good save from Kristoffer Nordfeldt in the 77th minute but the already relegated Blues suffered what was their 24th defeat of the season.

Ipswich boss Paul Lambert insisted he was pleased with the reaction following his side’s 4-0 defeat to Preston on Good Friday.

“Today was a lot better, there wasn’t too much in the game and we had one or two chances to maybe score,” Lambert said.

“It’s been the same all season really, we had some good moments and just been punished at the wrong end of the pitch.

Lambert’s team and staff did a lap of honour following the defeat, and the Town manager praised the fans for their support.

“It’s emotional because the support behind the football club is phenomenal, it’s second to none.

“That’s why I made the lads stand in front of the North Stand. They’ve watched us all season so it was our turn to watch them. That was important that we acknowledged everyone in the stadium. The atmosphere is incredible, it’s overwhelming.

“The lads deserve a lot of credit for keeping going and we’ve got two massive games that can affect, depending on the results, two or maybe three teams.”