These are your Swansea City headlines on Tuesday, April 11.
Piroe targets another 20-goal season
Swansea’s top scorer Joel Piroe has his sights set on another 20-goal season after his brace against Wigan Athletic took him to 17 for the campaign.
The Dutchman’s double took him to 41 goals since joining the club in the summer of 2021, and if Piroe was to reach the 20-goal mark he’d be the first Swansea player since Jason Scotland to reach 20 goals in consecutive seasons.
“I’m very pleased to score two and I’m very pleased with the 2-0 win,” said the Dutchman.
“The little downside is that I think I should have scored three, but I’ll stay positive.
“Before the game, I told myself ‘today’s the day’ I will hit 40 goals for the Swans so I’m very pleased and to make it 41 is even better.
"To make sure I get to 20 for the season is now the aim for me.”
Post-match he received praise from his gaffer too, with Russell Martin adding the striker has been disappointed in himself at points this term.
“Joel has been amazing since we have been here, he is just a great young man, first and foremost,” said head coach Martin.
“As a footballer, he is adaptable and intelligent. He is technically really gifted with both feet and good movement.
“His willingness and capacity to learn is incredible, and his understanding of what we are trying to do is amazing.
“I am just so pleased for him, because he has been disappointed himself with how things have gone for him in spells this season, and his output in terms of goals.
“But it shows his ability, the quality he possesses and it tells you how good he is that he can be disappointed when he has 17 goals this season.”
Maloney praises Swans
Wigan Athletic boss Shaun Maloney was full of praise for Swansea City after he saw his side defeated 2-0 at the DW Stadium on Easter Monday.
The result left the Latics eight points adrift from safety with just five Championship games left.
"Coming into this game, we'd been unbeaten at home, and in the position we are in, I wanted to be very, very aggressive at our own stadium.
“We could have been defensive for 90 minutes, Swansea are very good on the ball, very good in possession.
“If you let Swansea have the ball, you won’t see it. We had to be very aggressive to try and stop them playing.
“When we didn't get it right, they hurt and punished us. This result is on me, as I asked the players to be very aggressive.”
U21s suffer defeat to Millwall while U18s taste success
Swansea under-21s were defeated 3-1 by Millwall this afternoon. The Swans were 2-0 down at half-time thanks to goals from Tyler Burey and Seb Drozd before Ben Blythe pulled one back with 12 minutes left. The home side sealed the win seven minutes from time when Tomas Leahy added the Lions’ third.
Millwall’s youngsters are managed by ex-Swans player Kevin Nugent. Nugent signed for Swansea in 2003 and made 70 appearances for the club, scoring 13 goals in total.
Meanwhile, Swansea City U18’s recorded a home win against their QPR counterparts. Swansea came out on top with a 1-0 win thanks to a free-kick from Dan Watts. The result stretched Swansea’s unbeaten run to six games.
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