By Paul Jones
Russell Martin has urged his Swansea City team to remain focused and make it three wins in succession by beating Coventry City on Good Friday.
The Swans have beaten Bristol City and arch-rivals Cardiff City in their previous two games and have an opportunity to win three on the bounce for the first time since October when the Sky Blues visit.
Head coach Martin has demanded it cannot be a case of “after the Lord Mayor’s show,” after winning back-to-back matches in the Championship against their two nearest neighbours.
“We have to want more and I hope we can bring the energy and feeling from the last two games and use it to put together a run of performances and results,” Martin said.
https://twitter.com/WalesOnline/status/1643912177441730560?s=20
Swansea City’s 3-2 win against Cardiff City saw Ben Cabango net the winning goal in the 99th minute, leading to delirious celebrations among players, staff, and supporters.
However, Martin stated that it’s time to park the celebrations and focus on maintaining a strong finish to their season with seven games to go.
“We are in a good position to finish strongly, at some point we will need to give some people an opportunity to get on the pitch and show what they can do,” Martin added.
“We can’t go there and think Saturday was enough. We always need to want more.
Martin is also continuing to discuss future plans with Swansea’s owners, including his contract situation, as his current deal expires at the end of next season.
“We’re really happy here. We’d like nothing more than to stay here and see through loads of the work we feel we’ve been doing,” Martin said.
Who is your favourite Swansea manager in your lifetime? i’m 16 so i know about Rodgers and Laudrup but didn’t get to experience them, so for me Russell Martin is genuinely my favourite i have never seen someone love the club as much as him. #swans pic.twitter.com/kYL6Q11MaI
— Toby (@scfc_toby) April 4, 2023
But the former MK Dons boss has suggested it’s challenging to get players to sign up to a long-term project when the head coach only has one year left on his contract.
“For everyone, it’s probably best resolved one way or another. But I’m quite relaxed about that, we’ll just have to wait and see,” he added.
Swans striker Liam Cullen was a goalscorer in the victory against Cardiff, his fist in a derby game and a landmark strike that ended a week of progress for the 24-year-old who was called up to the Wales squad for the first time.
Cullen was a late addition to Rob Page’s squad for the Euro qualifiers against Croatia and Latvia and said: “I was at home on the Monday night and I had a call saying I was getting called up.
“It was a bit of a rush to get up to Cardiff, but it was an unbelievable experience and I hope to impress as much as I can to show I belong in that squad and can contribute to that team too.
“The target is to try and be in that set-up. I have come all the way through from under-15s and have always had a target of a senior cap.
“The staff were really good with me and they spoke to me at the end of the week and I came away feeling I had done myself no harm. It just makes me want to keep impressing for Swansea and hopefully that call will come.”
https://twitter.com/SwansOfficial/status/1644013079137492997?s=20
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