For weeks, Zan Vipotnik had been waiting for the feeling to return — that sharp, electric certainty every striker craves when the ball leaves the boot and the outcome feels inevitable.
Six games had passed without that rush, without the net bulging, without the roar.
Yet when the moment finally came, it arrived with such ferocity that it seemed to shake something in Vipotnik himself, enabling him to repeat the trick as he scored twice - both magnificent strikes - in the 2-1 weekend victory over Norwich City.
“When players come from different leagues, it takes different players, different times for it to gel,” said Swansea head coach Alan Sheehan.
“Sometimes it will be hot and cold until it's permanently hot. It’s about integrating them into that. With Vipi, he was up and down last year and then he came back fitter.”
Vipotnik’s start to life in South Wales has been turbulent.
Signed for his goals and his intensity, he arrived from Bordeaux and took time to adjust to the rhythm of the Championship — its relentless grind and physicality.
There were flashes of brilliance, but also long, quiet spells in which the goals dried up and confidence began to waver.
This season, he looked like he might have cracked it with seven goals in a nine-game spell by the end of September.
But then came the barren spell of no goals in six matches - two of which were on international duty with Slovenia.
“Last year, when he came in, we probably didn't see the best of him consistently,” Sheehan said.
“This year, obviously he missed little bits of pre-season, but I think he was in a better place and he understood what he had to do and he looks really well right now.”
That readiness was evident against Norwich.
The first goal came early, a rocket of a strike that felt almost cathartic — as if weeks of pent-up frustration had been released through the laces of his right boot.
Later, with the match drifting, he struck again, this time from 25 yards, arrowing the ball into the corner with ruthless precision.
Two moments of brilliance, the second from almost nothing — the sort of moments that can alter the direction of careers.
“They were really, really good finishes, top-class,” said Sheehan.
“He was a livewire today and I think he led the line. There are things that we want more of from him and for him to be relentless within that.
“But in terms of scoring goals, then he gave two moments of real quality and that clinical edge we have been missing in certain games.
“He was exceptional, they're high-level goals, and you've seen a player that's really enjoying his football.”
Enjoying his football — that, perhaps, is the real story. Vipotnik’s game has always been about passion.
In Slovenia, he was the fearless teenager who would chase every lost cause; in France, the ambitious import trying to prove he belonged.
Now, in Swansea, he is something in between — maturing, learning to pace himself, to trust the system and his teammates.
Sheehan sees it too. “They’re a really good bunch of lads,” he said. “Within a squad, if you want to be successful you need competition for places. Ultimately, if you're not playing you need to support the player who has the shirt and that's what we're trying to create.”
Vipotnik’s reward was not just two goals but the sight of the Swansea.com Stadium rising in unison to celebrate him — a player once on the periphery, currently at the heart of everything Sheehan is trying to build.
The head coach also praised the collective mentality of his side after an uneven run of results.
“Yes, an important win, I think every win is important,” he said.
“In terms of the first 20-30 minutes I thought we were really front-footed, really aggressive in what we wanted to do, scored a great goal and had numerous opportunities to put the game to bed and we didn’t.
“Then they had a moment where we didn’t protect the middle of the pitch well enough and then they got that goal at the end of it.
“But I don’t really remember them having any opportunities in the second half. Ultimately, you get out what you put in, and today we went and we got the win and I think we really deserved that.”
Vipotnik’s brace lifted Swansea to 13th in the table, three points off the play-off places, while Norwich’s defeat left them anchored in the bottom three — their worst run of form in years.
Manager Liam Manning, whose position now hangs by a thread, struck a defiant tone afterwards.
“I don't fear anything. It is what it is. We're in a bad spot and I'm obviously a part of it,” the under-pressure Canaries manager said.
“I'm enjoying being there, but I want to change it, I want to keep fighting. I want to get the lads on board in terms of them really owning it and stepping up and that's the bit that I concentrate on.”
