Russell Martin lauds all-round game of Jamie Paterson and Joel Piroe

Posted Wednesday, November 03, 2021 by PA

A delighted Russell Martin heaped praise on goalscorers Jamie Paterson and Joel Piroe after the pair earned Swansea a 2-1 win over Coventry at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Coventry-born Paterson opened the scoring inside five minutes with his third goal in five games before Dutch striker Piroe notched his ninth Sky Bet Championship goal of the season.

“Joe and Jamie have been incredible for us,” explained Martin. “Forget all the goals, the defensive job Joel does for the team is really appreciated by his team-mates.

“He does some incredible things out of possession for us. He is so clever, links the game well, has good movement and is always in the right place which is why he scored the goal.

“Jamie, you run out of superlatives to describe him. He just keeps getting better. He deserved a goal and took it brilliantly and he’s another one who works so hard for the team.”

The victory made it four wins in five for the Swans, who won their second away game of the campaign, and ended Coventry’s unbeaten start to life back at the CBS Arena.

Martin added: “We came out the traps brilliantly. We had so much energy, intensity and aggression against a really good team.

“We showed so much courage to play the way we wanted to, there were some massive performances and I thought we deserved the win for the way we started the game and the chances we created.

“The set piece goal we conceded was disappointing but I thought we gained control back again in the second half and were really strong.

“They had a flurry you would expect at the end but we had so much courage and bravery to try and play the way we wanted to play.”

Mark Robins bemoaned his side’s early start, which saw them 2-0 down inside 12 minutes, a deficit they couldn’t overcome.

“We were architects of our own downfall,” said Robins. “We didn’t start the game right, they are a good team and they want to move you around, they try and do things that we want to do to opposition teams.

“We gave them a brilliant head start in the game and they made us too uncomfortable because we didn’t get to grips with their movements.

“The second goal was two yards offside, it was our fault as well but we’ve got to work out when we press and when we don’t.

“We got ourselves back in the game with a header and then had opportunities, because however good these are they give you opportunities if you get after them.

“If we’d have got ourselves level at half time, we’d have gone on and won it, I’m sure of it.

The defeat saw the Sky Blues lose their first game at the CBS Arena since March 2019, but the Coventry boss was quick to put the defeat into a wider context with his side still fourth in the Championship.

He added: “It’s a blow tonight because we’ve just lost the game, but in terms of the overall picture we are miles ahead of where anyone expects us to be.

“We’re fourth in the league, we’ve had a brilliant start and nobody is getting down about that.”