By David Williams
Luke Williams insists he needs around a dozen matches to decide whether or not Swansea City are going to be a force in the Championship this season.
The Swans head coach praised his team after they earned their first away points of the season – a 2-1 victory at Coventry City – which moved them up to seventh in the table.
But Williams believes his side needs more road-testing for him to determine whether they are any good – or if opponents so far have been bad.
“We deserved the win, the second half was far different but in the first half we were well value for the two goals we scored,” said Williams.
“A few more games we will be able to understand if we’re good, or if we’ve been somewhat fortunate when we’ve hit oppositions in a bad moment. I don’t know yet.
“I’m waiting to see my group, to show me over 10, 12 games . . . okay, this is us now.
“We’ve won back-to-back games for the first time so we should be pleased, now we have to continue otherwise it was frustrating that we didn’t capitalise on a good moment.”
A snapshot of this afternoon’s victory in Coventry ✨
Gallery @Westacresltd | #Swans
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) September 21, 2024
Williams’ side raced into a two-goal lead in the opening half-hour thanks to goals from Liam Cullen and Oli Cooper, before Ronald’s own goal gave Coventry a route back into the match.
It had been a miserable start away from the Swansea.com Stadium for the Swans, who had lost both of their previous away fixtures without scoring.
But in a frantic first half, Swansea took the lead when Matt Grimes’ free-kick dropped to the feet of Cullen and the forward made no mistake drilling home from close range.
Norman Bassette was making his first league start after his performance in the Sky Blues’ agonising 2-1 defeat by Tottenham earlier in midweek and he forced Laurence Vigouroux into his first save with a powerful left-footed strike.
From the resulting corner, Bobby Thomas met Jack Rudoni’s corner but he could not find the target with his improvised flick at goal.
The visitors also looked a threat from set-pieces throughout the first half as Harry Darling and Eom Ji-sung both went close from corners.
The Swans doubled their lead just past the half-hour mark when Wales international Cooper cut inside and fired into the bottom corner via a deflection.
Coventry wasted no time in halving the deficit when Rudoni took aim from distance and his effort cannoned off the head of Ronald past a helpless Vigouroux.
Bassette had a golden chance to equalise before the break when he met Jake Bidwell’s deflected cross but could only head against the crossbar.
️ The gaffer reflects on this afternoon’s victory in Coventry @Westacresltd | #Swans pic.twitter.com/y9NUbrEjfe
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) September 21, 2024
Ronald came close to atoning for his own goal immediately after the interval when his effort struck the outside of a post, while Josh Key flashed an effort over the crossbar.
Referee James Linnington briefly took the players off the pitch in the second half for safety reasons due to the inclement weather in the West Midlands and Coventry came out looking for their equaliser after the stoppage.
Former Liverpool stopper Vigouroux had to be alert again to keep out substitute Mason Ephron-Clark, who also fired over inside the last 10 minutes.
Fellow substitute Victor Torp also tried his luck from range before Coventry had appeals for a penalty waved away, leaving Mark Robins’ side with only one win from their six league outings this season.
Robins said: “It was frustrating, the first 35 minutes was nothing like us, we didn’t start.
“From the other night (the Tottenham game) I don’t normally like to procrastinate over things, but normally I would make changes, but I wanted to keep the same team because they were so good the other night for 84 minutes.
“It teaches me a lesson because I can’t do that and they proved I can’t do that. There were clear instructions for them to follow and they didn’t do that, for whatever reason and I take that responsibility.
“Whether you are tired or not I expect to put the opponents under pressure for 90 minutes and we allowed them the freedom of Coventry and allowed them to score two goals.”