Alan Sheehan | The players worked so hard for the badge

Alan Sheehan hailed the character of his Swansea City side after they secured a deserved draw at Leeds United thanks to Zan Vipotnik’s 96th minute equaliser.

The Swans had trailed inside 40 seconds at Elland Road when Brenden Arronson prodded home, and the visitors missed a penalty and saw Hannes Delcroix hit the post during the opening half.

They levelled through Harry Darling’s close-range effort but looked to have been denied a share of the spoils when Wilfried Gnonto slammed home with three minutes remaining.

But Swansea responded again with Vipotnik firing home from Joe Allen’s brilliant pass to level in the final seconds of seven minutes of stoppage time.

And Sheehan could not hide his pride in the resilience and quality his players had shown against a Leeds side hunting automatic promotion.

“I feel like a point was the least we deserved for how we performed,” said the Swans boss.

“To start the game the way we did was disappointing, and I let the players know that at half-time, because we know if you do that at Elland Road the place can get on top of you.

“But the players showed great character and we controlled most of the rest of that first half.

“We missed the penalty, we hit the post, we had chances and we were dangerous with what we wanted to do.

“Obviously we scored after the break, but then they got the goal – we had a man switch off – but we kept going.

“We talk about character, desire and application, and the players were just so determined to work hard for the badge.

“That was the message beforehand, you cannot do anything individually at a place like this, you have to do it as a collective and I am so, so proud of the players.

“When you come to places like this, you really find out things about your players.

“You have a nightmare start, and in that situation it’s about the quality and leadership of the group.

“We showed that togetherness until the very, very end.”

And Sheehan also thanked the nearly 800 Swans fans who made the long journey to Yorkshire.

“I am delighted for the fans,” he said.

“They’ve made the journey here, it’s a massive crowd because Leeds are going for promotion and they made themselves heard.

“We knew we needed to be the best versions of ourselves today, and we were.”