Bruce satisfied with ‘clinical’ Sheffield Wednesday win

Posted Sunday, February 24, 2019 by PA

Sheffield Wednesday manager Steve Bruce was pleased with his side’s first-half performance as they beat Swansea 3-1 to give him his first home win since taking charge at Hillsborough.

Adam Reach’s double and Steven Fletcher’s strike put the Owls in charge at the break, with Swansea grabbing a second-half consolation through Oli McBurnie.

In his five matches in charge, Bruce has seen his side claim nine points and was pleased with the way they put the game to bed before the break.

Bruce said: “We made hard work of the second half but considering two or three are sick and not great, two or three are carrying knocks, two in particular haven’t played for months, I knew the second half was going to be a struggle for us.

“I didn’t know it was going to be that big a struggle after the first half but I was delighted with the way we went about it in the first half.

“We were clinical, we went after them with a game plan and certainly worked against them to get after the ball. When you’re getting after the ball and press high like we did, it takes some doing to sustain it.

“Second half left a little bit to be desired, but we were worthy, worthy winners.

“I’m delighted with the way we went about it in the first half. Boyd was off yesterday, Barry Bannan’s not well, Fox hurt his back yesterday so I think we had ten injuries.

“I’m delighted for the two loanees (Achraf Lazaar and Rolando Aarons) and Dominic Iorfa coming on. I think they did terrific on their debuts, which is good to see.”

Reach gave the hosts the lead after 11 minutes, slotting in from Aarons’ pass.

The winger made it 2-0 after 32 minutes, before striker Fletcher scored with a spectacular overhead kick which found the bottom corner.

McBurnie’s consolation came after 69 minutes but Swansea boss Graham Potter was left to rue the first-half display.

Swansea manager Graham Potter said: “From our perspective, we’re disappointed with our first half, of course.

“We weren’t at the level we need to be, for sure. Having said that, we had a few good chances, but we probably contributed to our own downfall and that’s a learning point for us.

“We have to be better at that. Half time we were looking for a response, for something better and I think we had that.

“We had some good chances second half. We should have made it 3-2 and then you never know. In the end you can’t expect to do what we did first half and expect to get anything.

“Of course I expected us to be a little bit better. We contributed a little bit to our own downfall and that’s something we need to be a little bit better at.”