Ollie Cooper hopes first Swansea City league goal is first of many

Ollie Cooper was delighted to net his first league goal for Swansea City against Sunderland, and the midfielder felt it was a moment that had been coming.

The 22-year-old capitalised on great work by Ryan Manning and Matt Grimes to find the net by sending a strike through a crowd of bodies and opening the scoring.

Harry Darling made it 2-0 shortly before the break and, despite a second-half resurgence from Sunderland which saw them pull one back early in the second period, the Swans held firm to make it four consecutive league wins for the first time under Russell Martin.

Cooper was back in the team after being rested against Watford in midweek, and provided plenty of energy on his return to the starting XI, and enjoyed his goalscoring moment.

“We made it tough for ourselves,” he said.

“The second half wasn’t the best, but we’ve got another win. That’s four on the bounce, which is difficult to do in any league, but we’ve done it and we just need to keep it going now.

“My first league goal has been a long time coming so I’m delighted to finally get the ball in the back of the net.”

It was the third consecutive game in which Swansea have won by a one-goal margin.

And Cooper praised the mentality of the team as they navigated what could have been a tricky second half after conceding so soon after half-time.

“I think we’re a young group and I feel like game management is something we’ve definitely improved,” he said.

“You can see that in the last couple of games. Not only have we won them, we’ve scored goals late so hopefully, we’ve turned a corner.

“To get a win is what we needed originally, and then we just take it game by game but to go into a game on the back of five wins in six is incredible. You just go into games with confidence in yourself and in the team.

“The fans are massive in every game we play, they create an amazing atmosphere and that really helps you on the pitch.

“We need to keep this going for as long as possible.”