Russell Martin wants Swansea City to repeat recent showings against Coventry

Russell Martin has urged his Swansea City side to replicate their fine recent performances against Coventry City when they lock horns with the Sky Blues this afternoon (3pm).

The Swans head to the Coventry Building Society Arena to face one of the Championship’s in-form teams.

Mark Robins has led his side through a challenging start to the season, where issues with the playing surface at the CBS Arena following its use during the Commonwealth Games saw fixtures postponed.

That left the Sky Blues playing catch up, but they really hit their stride prior to the World Cup break and are now just five points off the play-off places with two games in hand on most of their rivals.

The Swans also put together an excellent run before the pause for the global showpiece in Qatar, but suffered frustration when losing 1-0 to Norwich as Championship action resumed last weekend.

However, they did complete an impressive league double over Coventry last term, ending their unbeaten home record in the west Midlands with a 2-1 win before a dominant 3-0 success on home turf.

Indeed, Swansea are unbeaten in 13 games against the Sky Blues, and head coach Martin hopes that is a sequence his players can continue.

“Coventry are a threat in this division, they have been in a false position,” said the Swans boss.

“I have so much respect for Mark Robins, Adi (Viveash) and Dennis (Lawrence). We love them as a group of people and a coaching staff.

“They have always been great with us, we played against them in League One at MK Dons when they had a brilliant team and were on the way to getting promoted.

“What they have done to establish themselves as a really good Championship team, despite all the stuff they have had to deal with off the pitch during the time they have been there, is incredible.

“So we have tremendous respect for them. We always knew at some point they would climb up the table and they have put themselves in a good position.

“It’s going to be a good game, it’s two teams in similar positions. They are in brilliant form, we are in frustrating form because performances have been good and results have not reflected that.

“We look forward to it, hopefully we can perform as we did at their place last season, or at home, because we did very well in both games against them last season. Hopefully we can do the same again.”