Alan Sheehan | The players battled for the badge

Caretaker head coach Alan Sheehan hailed the fighting sprit of his Swansea City team after they started 2024 with a 1-0 victory over promotion hopefuls West Bromwich Albion at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Liam Cullen got the only goal of the game 10 minutes into the second half, sweeping home right-footed after Harry Darling’s knockdown fell to him in the box.

The Swans then defended resolutely over the remainder of the game, with the players putting their bodies on the line to make a number of key challenges and interceptions.

And Sheehan felt the players had shown the hunger to battle for the badge as they made it 11 points from seven games under the interim boss.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game against a strong, physical West Brom team,” he said.

“They are a good team and the effort and togetherness the lads showed was excellent.

“You saw a team fighting for the badge, and that is what made me most proud.

“We know they are one of the best teams in the league in terms of that 10 to 15 minutes after half-time, so we knew we needed to come out on the front foot and try and put our stamp on the game.

“I thought we did that, and we were very good in the second half. We defended really well when we had to, and attacked well.

“We had a good spell and we were saying on the bench that we needed to score. For Culls that is two in two games, and he’s been really good because he has had to be patient.

“It’s not been an easy period with the games coming thick and fast, but we showed we can do both sides of the game.

“We wanted the clean sheet, we want to have a platform to build on, and the way we defended was top.”

The only disappointment for the Swans was an early injury for midfielder Liam Walsh, who was forced off inside the opening 10 minutes, and Sheehan will wait to see what the extent of the calf problem is.

“He has been outstanding recently, I am a massive fan of his, but we will have to have a look at it,” said Sheehan.