Alan Sheehan hailed Swansea City’s rise into the Championship’s top half as an “incredible achievement” after his side produced a gritty 1-0 victory away at Sunderland — their third win on the bounce and sixth clean sheet in nine games under his leadership.
The caretaker head coach, who stepped in following Luke Williams’ departure in February, has overseen a dramatic turnaround at the Swansea.Com Stadium, guiding the Swans away from relegation danger to 12th place with four games remaining.
“My memo was to keep this team in the league, so to go into the top half of the table is an incredible achievement by the players,” Sheehan said.
“I am satisfied. Compare where we are to where we were, and we are in a really good place.”
The decisive moment came in the 58th minute at the Stadium of Light, when captain Ben Cabango reacted quickest after Harry Darling’s header crashed off the bar, poking home the rebound.
It handed Sheehan his fifth victory as boss — and a third straight clean sheet — against a Sunderland side that had only lost once at home all season.
“We have beaten Derby, who are flying high at the moment, we beat Plymouth, we have come here and that’s three wins and three clean sheets. I couldn’t be any prouder of the players,” Sheehan added.
“We were coming up against a very good team, we had to respect how good a team they are.”
Sheehan’s impact has been immediate and significant. Swansea have picked up 17 points from nine league matches under his stewardship, after a worrying slide that included seven defeats in nine and left them flirting with the bottom three.
Now, the tone has shifted — both on the pitch and in the dressing room.
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“In order to build a good team you need to build character, resilience, togetherness etcetera. This was the third game in a week and it was a case of getting through and digging in like we did for the last 20 minutes,” he explained.
“Everything I do is focused on how we set up our team to be the most aggressive, to be the best version of ourselves.
“I am enjoying myself. It’s a wonderful football club and it is going really well. To get six clean sheets in nine, you have to be a good team.”
The question now is whether Sheehan will be offered the job on a permanent basis.
Although Swansea have been exploring options, the players are firmly behind their current boss.
“You can see all the players are behind him now,” said captain Ben Cabango.
“I feel like he's done superbly well in his period he's had and the period he had previously as well. So he shows the qualities as a manager and I'd be delighted if it was him.”
Cabango, who also took pride in Swansea’s recent defensive solidity, said:
“I feel like we're loving defending as a team right now. Everyone's just giving it everything.
“If there's a mistake, we're always backing each other up and it's a good feeling that we've just got that foundation so we can build on it.”
Swansea’s recent results against some of the division’s best sides — a draw at league leaders Leeds and now a win at fourth-placed Sunderland — suggest a team not just surviving, but competing at a high level.
“They're two of the hardest places to go in the league,” Cabango added.
“We were a bit more penned in (at Sunderland), but we're showing we have that quality when we do get the chances and we put them away, and we're hard to break down.”
Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris admitted his side were out of sorts on the day, struggling to break down Sheehan’s well-drilled unit.
“This was a disappointing result. We expected more and wanted to win but it wasn’t to be today,” said Le Bris.
“They were well-organised and it wasn’t easy to find a solution.”
Swansea now turn their attention to the final four matches of the season, full of momentum and with Sheehan’s case for a permanent appointment growing stronger by the week.
