Russell Martin | That result and performance have been coming

Head coach Russell Martin felt his Swansea City side’s emphatic 4-0 victory over Watford was a result and a performance that had been coming.

The Swans swept the Hornets aside at the Swansea.com Stadium as a Joel Piroe brace and further goals from Liam Cullen and Joel Latibeaudiere saw the home side round off 2022 in perfect fashion.

It was a first win in nine for the Swans as they put a frustrating run behind them by showing the ruthless edge in both boxes Martin had been demanding.

During that sequence of games the Swans had racked up 45 more shots on goal than their opponents, and had nearly double the number of touches in the attacking penalty area as the teams they had faced.

The Swans boss had been confident results would come if his players could be more clinical, and so it proved.

“I am delighted for the players because that is a performance and a result that has been coming,” said Martin.

“I got asked in the week if this was the toughest week of my coaching career with the run of games without a win, but it has not been tough to work with these players, the process has not been tough.

“The players have really stuck with it and believed in what we are doing. It’s not been tough to watch, I watch us with real pride.

“The frustration has been things we have spoken about like not being clinical enough, that was not an issue tonight.

“We scored first, and in the moments where we needed to be, we were horrible enough in our own box.

“I am so proud of them, I am so pleased for them. We played a different shape tonight and it worked really well.

“I am pleased for the supporters too, there was a really good atmosphere tonight and the team and the supporters fed off each other.

“The players are probably a bit relieved but they should be proud of themselves. They have been upset by some of the stuff that has been written and said about them this week.

“But this gives real justification for what they are doing, how together they are and how much we all believe in what we are doing.”