Bournemouth manager Scott Parker has praised the work done by Russell Martin at Swansea City and predicted a tough challenge for his promotion-chasers on Tuesday night. Despite the fade out of the Swans’ own play-off challenge, Parkers believes his team will face a difficult assignment at a club who are now on an eight-match unbeaten run. Martin watched his team draw 1-1 at home to Middlesbrough on Saturday – a result that ended any faint hope of the head coach’s first season ending with a top six finish.

By Harry Corish Russell Martin has insisted he will not be rushed into any quick sale of Swansea City’s leading marksman Joel Piroe. Swansea head coach Martin has admitted there is likely to be plenty of interest in Piroe after the Dutch striker’s hugely impressive debut season at the club. The 22-year-old has already been […]

Swansea City head coach Russell Martin is bracing himself for a summer spent fighting off interest for the club’s 20-goal striker Joel Piroe. The Dutchman scored two stunning goals in his side’s 2-1 victory over Derby County on Saturday to become the first Swans player since Oli McBurnie three years ago to reach 20 goals in all competitions in a season. The 22-year-old joined the Swans for a bargain £1m from PSV Eindhoven last summer, but already looks worth 10 times that figure after a stunning debut season in the Championship.

Swansea City have set themselves a new target a week on from making history in the south Wales derby – winning three games in a week for the first time under Russell Martin. The 4-0 win at Cardiff City Stadium last weekend allowed Martin’s men to claim the first league double in 110 years of trying by both teams in the derby, while Joel Piroe’s 18th goal of the season in the 1-0 win at Millwall earlier in the week made it 10 points out of the last 12 as they push for a top half finish. That is bad news for Wayne Rooney’s Derby County, who are still fighting to try to complete their own version of the ‘Great Escape’ and avoid relegation.

Russell Martin praised the ruthless attitude of Joel Piroe after the striker put Swansea City on the outer fringes of the Championship play-off race. Dutchman Piroe scored his 18th goal of the season in all competitions as the Swans secured a 1-0 win against Millwall at The Den. The result lifted head coach Martin’s side to 14th in the table – level on points with West Bromwich Albion and Preston and only eight points behind Middlesbrough, who occupy the final play-off spot.

Michael Obafemi revealed he was driven by the desire to make history after his two-goal raid inked his name into Welsh football folklore. The Swansea City striker bookended a stunning victory for his club against their bitterest rivals and now his name – and his club’s 4-0 win at Cardiff City – will be talked about in Wales for years. Not only did it help Swansea debunk the well-worn statistic that neither club had ever managed a league double over the other in 110 years of trying, but it was Swansea’s biggest derby victory for 73 years.

Michael Obafemi has transformed his character as much as his goal return in the past few weeks at Swansea City. That was the assessment of his head coach Russell Martin after Obafemi drove a bulldozer through a stacked 110-year history between Welsh football’s biggest clubs to leave Cardiff City’s recent revival in ruins. The Swansea striker scored his team’s first and last goals as they totally outclassed their rivals with a 4-0 away win – their biggest Welsh derby victory since 1949.

Russell Martin has urged his Swansea City players to grasp the opportunity to become history-makers in the derby at Cardiff City on Saturday. The Swans head coach has suggested the chance to become the first Welsh team to do a league “double” over their rival should be another motivating factor when his team visit the Cardiff City Stadium. Following the Swans’ 3-0 victory in the reverse fixture in October, the visitors have the chance to complete the first league double in the 110-year history of the fixture.

Swansea City manager Russell Martin expects his side to be a much improved outfit when they take to the Cardiff City Stadium turf for the South Wales derby in two weeks’ time. The Swans are without a fixture until April 2 due to the international break and Martin is confident his side can use the extra days wisely before attempting the first ever South Wales derby double. “We could make people very happy in two weeks’ time,” said Martin, whose team laboured to a 0-0 draw at home to Birmingham City.

Russell Martin praised Joel Piroe’s “ruthlessness” after the Swansea City striker grabbed a victory which seemed about to elude them. Piroe struck a dramatic added-time winner as the Swans snatched a 3-2 success at Peterborough United that dealt a heart-breaking blow to the hosts’ survival hopes. The Dutch striker fired his 17th goal of a prolific season in the first minute of stoppage time to settle a  Championship thriller and leave rock-bottom Posh looking doomed.

By Tom Prosser Peterborough United boss Grant McCann has branded Swansea City’s style of play as “unique” ahead of Wednesday’s Skybet Championship clash at London Road. “I’ve come up against Russell Martin teams at MK Dons and Swansea before and they have a unique style of play,” said McCann. “They are very much possession-based and they can be very hard to play against as they rotate players all the time.

Swansea City head coach Russell Martin has admitted he is already thinking of next season as their current campaign rises and lurches to a nauseous conclusion. The Swans lost 1-0 at Blackpool, a scoreline that was not in the least surprising – just as the statistic which showed their dominance of possession was 77 per cent will shock no-one, either. Under Martin this season, this is what Swansea do. They pass a lot.