Steve Cooper | Goal rush shows Jay's belief

Swansea City head coach Steve Cooper has urged Jay Fulton to keep believing in his attacking abilities following the midfielder’s goalscoring exploits in pre-season.

Fulton, 25, has scored four goals in two starts this pre-season, netting a hat-trick at Yeovil and another at Bristol Rovers in midweek.

Two of the Scot’s strikes at Huish Park were excellent finishes, and his 25-yard effort at the Memorial Stadium in midweek arguably topped the lot.

And with Cooper and his coaching staff encouraging their players to commit to attacking opportunities, the Swans boss has been pleased to see Fulton embrace that message.

“We have challenged more players to get on the scoresheet this year, we need numbers of goals from all over the pitch and not just our number nines,” said Cooper.

“To do that you have to be in the position to score, and Jay has done that. His goal in midweek was like the one at Yeovil, but every bit as pleasing was the fact he got in good attacking positions again and again.

“That’s what we want to do with our midfield players, to have an effect at both ends of the pitch, and Jay has been showing that.

“He is showing he can play at both ends of the pitch and he will get the encouragement from us.

“If he can keep putting them in the top corner then he needs to keep doing it!

“He has lots of good aspects to his game and he just needs to keep believing in himself and showing the commitment levels that he is, because it is really good at the moment.

“The only thing is the boys need to keep a few of those sorts of goals for the season and not give them all away now!”

The form of Fulton, Matt Grimes and George Byers means Cooper may well find himself facing a selection headache for the season-opener against Hull, with the Swans rounding off their pre-season schedule against Atalanta at the Liberty on Saturday (3pm).

But the head coach will be more than happy to have to agonise over as many decisions as possible.

“That’s where we want to be as a coach,” he said.

“You want to have difficult decisions to make, and I am happy to deal with a lot of them because it would mean a number of players are contending for starting positions.

"So give me as many of those as possible, because it will mean we are in the right place.”