Swansea City celebrated a fourth successive win in beating Sunderland 2-1 on Saturday.
Ollie Cooper notched his first league goal for the club early on before Harry Darling bagged his second of the campaign as the Swans clinched all three points after holding on following Jack Clarke's second-half effort for Tony Mowbray's men.
And their second goal represented a remarkable improvement from the Swans. Ben Cabango's header from a Ryan Manning free-kick was tapped by Nathan Wood into the path of Darling who drilled through the legs of goalkeeper Anthony Patterson on the stroke of half-time at the Swansea.com Stadium.
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It was Swansea's third goal from a set-piece in the space of eight days following Matty Sorinola's effort at West Brom and Cabango's header against Watford. It means the Swans now have more goals from set plays this season than they did in the duration of the 2021/22 league campaign.
It was clearly an area of significant concern for the Swans last time out, with Huddersfield Town's league-high tally of 20 goals from set plays last term being cited as a prime example of the sheer importance of deal ball situations.
"We looked a real threat from set-pieces today," said Martin after the success against Sunderland. "Massive credit to Andy Parslow and the work he puts into the players.
"I think it's the same as anything, we try and put so much detail into the guys, it takes some time, and Andy's the same. They've had a lot of detail and it's starting to really pay off.
"The mentality of the players now, you see them running up to a set-piece, they feel confident that they're going to get a chance from it, Ben Cabango in particular and the aggression he shows."
Swansea's current run is their best sequence of league results since winning four on the bounce under Steve Cooper in August 2019. Victories over Hull City, West Brom, Watford and Sunderland have propelled the Swans up to sixth in the Championship table, with Martin's men now just three points adrift of leaders Sheffield United.
And despite his side's second-half improvement in south Wales, Mowbray admitted his Sunderland side simply came up against a formidable opponent in Swansea. “It’s important to have that feeling about your team, whoever you play you need to think you can get a result," he said.
“We nearly did today, but they are a well-coached team with good players. It is no mistake that they’ve won five out of six.”
Swansea return to action against Burnley on Saturday. Kick-off at Turf Moor is at 3pm on October 15.
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