Swansea City news as Joel Piroe wins award and…

Swansea City news as Joel Piroe wins award and defender finally makes long-awaited debut

Your Swansea City headlines for Wednesday, September 28.

Piroe recognition

Joel Piroe was named as the Sporting Life Football & Infogol Championship xG Player of the Month for September.

The Dutchman endured a slow start to the campaign but has scored in four of his last five appearances for the Swans, two of which came this month in home wins against Queens Park Rangers and Hull City. And Piroe's form has been recognised as he topped the charts for the statistics and analysis website's player gong.

Piroe had an average Infogol rating of 8.99/10 in the month of September while he had an expected goals tally of 3.7 from his 15 shots at goal.

Following the 3-0 triumph over Hull, head coach Russell Martin heaped praise on the forward for the defensive effort he puts in from the number nine position.

“The defensive job Joel does for the team is really appreciated by us and his team-mates," said the head coach. "We know what he does with the ball, but he does some incredible work without it too.”

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Defender's long-awaited debut

Wasiri Williams made his long-awaited debut for Swansea's Under-23s against Bristol City this week.

The former non-league defender joined Swansea in the summer but spent two months on the sidelines owing to an ankle injury. However, he was finally able to feature for the age grade side for the first time this week.

And Williams has thanked the club's medical staff for their efforts during the course of his gruelling recovery. "It was good to finally be out there and experience our playing philosophy in real time for the first time," he told the club website.

"Going forward, I hope this proves to be a good starting point for me. Experiencing the way we play, it'll help me set my sights on future opportunities because individually I know my performances can always get better.

"The staff have been unreal, (lead athletic physical development coach) Aden King, (physio) Jordan Beech and the coaches have been amazing," he added.

"They really help you day-by-day, especially the tough days when you can get frustrated. They really helped me to get ready for this game, and made sure I was ready to play and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season."

Wright pleased with young guns

Anthony Wright praised several members of Swansea's Under-18s after they stepped up to play for the Under-23s against Bristol City.

The Swans were without a number of key players including Cameron Congreve, Josh Thomas, Joel Cotterill and Ben Lloyd for their Professional Development League contest with the Robins on Tuesday afternoon. They were ultimately beaten 2-1 by their Severnside rivals, although their youthful side contained players such as Iwan Morgan, Josh Carey, Seb Dabrowski and Kyrell Wilson who were all promoted from the Under-18s.

And coach Wright admits he had no hesitation in throwing the youngsters in at the deep end against Bristol City. "It's a huge step for player development, this is what we have to do and what we'll always do here," he told the club website.

"We give opportunities to players at the right times. Sometimes, they come a little bit quicker, just like this week. We don't shy away from it, we put them in and just ask the players to go and be brave."

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