Alan Curtis continues to breathe further life into Swansea City’s slow climb up the Premier League table.
The club’s assistant coach – in charge while Francesco Guidolin is in hospital with a lung infection – masterminded a vital 1-0 victory at home to Norwich City.
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s sixth goal in 10 matches proved enough to give the Swans back-to-back victories and means they are now nine points clear of the relegation zone.
Curtis has now gathered four victories this season during his time in charge, both after the sacking of Garry Monk and whilst Guidolin has been ill. Monk managed three victories, while Guidolin has one.
Curtis said: “Francesco sent a message to say how delighted he was. I think he is due out on Monday, but I imagine he will need to spend a couple of days at home recuperating before he can go back to work.
“It’s a big statement as we have given ourselves a bit of breathing space. But 33 points is not going to give us safety. There are still points that need to be taken.”
Sigurdsson’s goal came after he was set up by substitute Leroy Fer. The Dutchman rolled a perfect pass into the scorer’s path in one of the rare moments of genuine quality in an otherwise poor match.
Curtis admitted: “It was a really poor first-half. In fact, I thought it was a poor game all round.
“Both sides caught up in the tension of the game and it affected us both. They needed the points, as we did, and both sides struggled with the
“We made a change at half-time and I thought we then controlled the game for long periods. We got goal and that was probably from one of best moves of the entire game.
“But we were hanging on at the end, not necessarily because of good play from Norwich, but just because of the tension.
“I thought we deserved it, though. It’s a big statement as it has given ourselves a bit of breathing space. But 33 points is not going to give us safety.”
Norwich manager Alex Neil said: “It was a cagey affair. There wasn’t much in it. We had as many chances as them, if not more. But when they had their 10 minute spell in control they managed to get a goal.
“When we had our spell, we didn’t score. Nathan Redmond had the best of the bunch. If it had gone into the bottom corner, then we would have gone home happy.
“It looks like a battle of three from four to avoid relegation. But we have got nine games left and the one crumb of comfort is that the teams around us only took one point today.
“Our destiny in our own hands but it’s tough when you are not winning.”
