Your Swansea City headlines on Friday, March 10.
Paterson hope outlined
Russell Martin hopes Jamie Paterson's contribution over the coming weeks can grow after his return to action at Luton Town.
The attacker was told he could leave the club in January but failed to find a move away from the Swansea.com Stadium.
Having been frozen out since Swansea's 2-1 defeat to Reading on December 27, Paterson was included in the Swans' squad to face the Hatters last weekend, with the playmaker replacing Ollie Cooper in the 77th minute of the Championship contest at Kenilworth Road.
And Martin admits the 31-year-old will need time to regain full match sharpness before standing any chance of playing a more prominent role in his side's run-in.
"He's not played for a long time so I think we have to be conscious of that," said the head coach. "He's trained really well which is great for us.
"He's brought a really good energy to training and he was desperate to be back in the squad. I hope he can get back on the pitch for longer than he did the other day but I think it's a good start for him to get back out there."
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Martin's bravest player
Russell Martin described Matt Grimes as the bravest player he's worked with.
The central midfielder has been a key figure under the current coaching staff, and his absence - due to illness - was felt last weekend as the Swans were beaten 1-0 by Luton Town.
It was a rare missed outing from the captain who has featured in every game since being suspended for the 2-2 draw with Wigan Athletic shortly before the World Cup break, and even that was preceded by a staggering run of 104 successive league outings for the club.
And Martin has revealed he is thrilled to welcome the 27-year-old back into his squad after his struggles last week.
"His record, how durable, robust and how consistent he is... but he was really ill," explained Martin.
"He left it until the last minute to give himself the best chance, but he was still in bed on Saturday. He lost a bit of weight as well because it was a sickness bug. His whole family had it as well.
"He's been fine. We've had to ease him back because he was quite unwell but he's trained really well on Wednesday, he's trained fully.
"He's a huge loss when he doesn't play for us because of how instrumental he is. Most importantly, he's the bravest footballer I've ever worked with. When he takes the ball, he'll take it anywhere in any situation.
"That goes underappreciated a little bit by people who don't understand, if you've never been in the arena to understand how difficult it is, which he has in most games, to have people hunting him down, man-marking him and clipping his heels when he receives the ball, it takes unbelievable courage.
"We did miss that. So it'll be really good to have him back."
Boro team news
Middlesbrough have no fresh injury concerns ahead of their trip to Swansea.
Paddy McNair sustained a nasty facial injury during his side's 2-0 defeat to West Brom in late February and subsequently missed Boro's thumping 5-0 success over Reading last time.
But Michael Carrick is hopeful that the defender will be involved against the Swans - who he says will provide his troops with a stern test.
"We understand we're going there to play against a good team that really tests you and like to play a certain way," he said.
"They're good at what they do and we'll take it for the game and team that we're facing for sure and we'll respect that."
Kick-off in Swansea is at 3pm on Saturday.
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