These are your Swansea City headlines on Sunday, February 20
Laird's 'tough' start
Former Swansea loanee Ethan Laird could be in line to make his bow for new team Bournemouth against his former employers on Tuesday night.
The Manchester United defender has yet to play for the Cherries, despite joining them nearly six weeks ago.
His loan stint with Swansea was brought to an abrupt end at the turn of the year, with United's decision to cancel his stay in Landore an unexpected and unwanted one.
Laird had arguably been Swansea's most consistent performer over the course of the first half of the season, and his absence has been keenly felt, despite the positive displays of replacement Cyrus Christie.
Now on the south coast rather than south Wales, it hasn't gone to plan with Scott Parker's men so far.
He has been suffering due to a setback to his recovery from a hamstring injury but he returned to training in recent days and Parker hinted he could be ready to travel to Swansea in midweek.
"It's tough. It has been tough for him," said Parker earlier this week. "I think for him and Kieffer (Moore) really. Ethan's come in and obviously not played a minute. So of course, I think it's been difficult for him.
"He is on the right path now. He can't look back now. He's close and he's edging closer. He's been with the team the last week or so. So he's moving in the right direction.
"Maybe Swansea is an option for Ethan, we'll have to see. He's got two hard days planned today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday). We'll have to see how he comes out the other side of these next two days.
"He will have a down day on Saturday, and then we'll prep going into Swansea. We'll see where he is after that and make the call.
"There is still a lot of football to be played, still loads of games to come. I'm looking forward to seeing Ethan. I've seen glimpses of him in training what I've been very impressed with. We brought him here because he can add to this squad.
"He adds quality and he can bring competition and can certainly help us. I'm looking forward to him doing that."
Hecky - it could have been more
Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom insisted he didn't want to be "disrespectful" to Swansea but believes the scoreline should have been more at Bramall Lane.
The hosts ran out 4-0 winners in Yorkshire but the Blades missed a number of clear-cut chances to further improve the result.
It was a bad day at the office for Russell Martin's men, who now face high-flying Bournemouth next in the league.
Heckingbottom believes Swansea's "brave" style meant his side could pick them off when the chances came.
"We were good, we set off with real good intent," Heckingbottom said post-match, twisting in the knife somewhat.
"If anything it should have been more, and that's not me being disrespectful in any way. Just looking after us, our team and our players.
"I think everyone there would agree, it should have been more goals.
"We were really good, good with the ball and good without the ball.
"It's a different way in which to create chances and score goals. If you compare this game with the last, when Hull came to be totally different to Swansea and sit behind the ball and try to counter, it mean all our chances came from our own good play and trying to open teams up, whilst we would have had a lot more shots and attempts the other day, you can sometimes get the best opportunities by winning the ball high when a team is split and spread.
"Swansea give you that opportunity because they are so brave with the ball and they've got a real strength in how they want to play which is to play out from the back. We wanted to use that to our advantage today and win the ball back from them and create chances that way and we did that."
Former Swan Beauchamp dies
Oxford United have announced the tragic news that Joey Beauchamp has passed away at the age of just 50.
Us legend Beauchamp spent a short spell on loan with Swansea in the early 90s, making five appearances for the club.
He also represented West Ham and Swindon Town during his career.
Oxford said in a statement: "The thoughts of everyone at Oxford United are with the family and friends of Joey Beauchamp who has passed away aged 50.
"Oxford-born Joey signed as a YTS trainee in 1987 having been a ball boy at the Milk Cup Final in 1986 as part of the Summertown Stars side.
"He is currently 10th in the Oxford appearances table with 428 games, and fifth in the all-time Oxford goalscoring chart with 80.
"Having starred as a youngster and attracted the interest of many top clubs Joey was bought by West Ham United for £1,000,000 in 1994 before a spell at Swindon Town after which he returned to the Manor to help the side win promotion in 1996.
"A toe injury ended his career after his final goal for the club at the Kassam Stadium against Exeter City.
"The club will pay fitting tribute to one of its greatest ever players in due course but for now we ask fans to allow Joey’s family some privacy at this incredibly sad time."
Garrick making headlines
Swansea loanee Jordon Garrick is grabbing the headlines for League One side Plymouth.
The attacker got on the scoresheet in the Pilgrims' 2-0 win over Gillingham on Saturday to keep the Green Army very much in promotion contention.
Argyle are fifth, on a good run of form and have games in hand over their rivals, setting them up for an interesting backend of the season.
“We're a tight knit unit, we've got love for each other," he said.
“The gaffer says to us all the time, 'make sure you keep showing that you guys are doing the business right now'.
“I think me and Niall [Ennis] work well together, Niall and Luke [Jephcott] work well together, Niall and Ryan [Hardie], me and Jephs, me and Ryan, I don't think it matters at the moment.
“It’s fine details like the tactics of the game, and the analysis is spot on for who the staff think should play.”
Garrick has built a strong bond with Plymouth fans since joining the club at the start of the season. His form in the south west will no doubt alert Martin ahead of next term.
“These guys are built different, they are fantastic," he said of the 800 fans who travelled to Kent.
"They literally go everywhere up and down the country, spend their hard-earned money to get to places so all I can do is send as much love as I can.
“It doesn't go unnoticed, we appreciate them and in games like today, the energy just transcends on to the players, so they are massive for us and I just want to send all the love.”
The 23-year-old has scored seven goals in 36 appearances in all competitions this term.
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