By Paul Jones
Luke Williams believes Swansea City striker Zan Vipotnik is fully energised to take on Cardiff City in the Welsh derby this weekend after scoring his first goal for his new club.
Vipotnik came off the bench to grab one of Swansea’s three goals in their empathic 3-0 victory over Preston at the weekend.
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It was the Swans’ first Championship win of the campaign following their opening day defeat to Middlesbrough and head coach Williams reckons the Slovenia striker is in perfect shape to add more goals against the Bluebirds on Sunday.
“It [scoring] is air in their lungs, said Williams of Vipotnik’s effort which came after Matt Grimes and substitute Azeem Abdulai had put Swansea 2-0 ahead.
“These guys don’t feel the same level of happiness until they hit the back of the net.
“This is why I’m really keen to try and provide these guys with these types of chances that they can thrive on to tap the ball in.
“Midfield players like to score screamers but a striker doesn’t care if it just rolls over the line.
“I think if you ask any striker to score early and get a tap-in, it’s a dream for them. So I’m really pleased because I wanted him to score and I wanted him to score this type of goal.
“I want the strikers to feel like the team are going to try to penetrate the box, try to hit the ball across for them. Today, that was exactly what we got. It looks so easy but it’s a skill.”
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Williams was more than pleased with his team’s victory – which came off the back of their Carabao Cup win over Gillingham and leaves them seventh in the early season table, with rivals Cardiff rock bottom after two defeats in which they have conceded seven goals and scored none.
“I’m really pleased because I think we performed in a way that was value for the result,” added Williams.
“If you win and maybe you didn’t deserve to, you take it, but if you win and you deserved, it is a special thing for coaches.
“I want the fans to turn up expecting to see that and I want them to see it more often than not. We know it is going to be incredibly challenging games.
“There are some fabulous teams in the Championship. We know that we will have tough days but, more often than not, it would be great if we can see energy, aggression, flare, excitement – performances that people want to come back and watch and fall in love with.”
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Preston’s captain Ben Whiteman said “We came out of the traps well in the second half and I thought we were good for 15 minutes or so. We had to score when we were on top and had the momentum like that.
“We created two very good chances, among the best in a while, and they didn’t go in. Then they ran down the other end and got a deflection.
“When you look at the goals today, there isn’t much in them. They had a deflection and a penalty, but the main thing is we have got to improve.
“We knew they had tricky wingers but I don’t think they caused us too many problems apart from the goals. It was a very frustrating game and we have to improve – it’s as simple as that.”
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