Alan Sheehan’s audition for the vacant managerial job at Swansea received further approval as he steered his side to a fourth successive victory with a 1-0 win over Hull.
A controversial second-half penalty from Slovenianstriker Zan Vipotnik sealed the deal for the home side as they also notched a fourth successive clean sheet – the first time since 2008 they have won four in a row without conceding.
“I like winning. The feeling of a sell-out crowd, people are watching their team giving 100 per cent in every action and isn’t that what we all want from our teams?” said Sheehan.
“The game could have been done at half-time if we were more clinical but these are a difficult team to play against.
“We scored and tried to get the second and because we didn’t, we had to defend for the last 15 minutes and our defensive structure as a team is incredibly pleasing.
“It’s good when you build that belief. I’ve been a leader at clubs before and I know what momentum can do.
“Momentum can take you to crazy places and right now we are a team who have belief, momentum and togetherness.”
The victory moved the Swans up to 11th in the table, nine points off the play-off places, and with three games to go they have a mathematical chance of reaching the top six.
“Maybe not that crazy!” joked Sheehan.
“My remit was to keep this club in the league. Secretly you have individual challenges – you want to take this team into the top half, win every game, do something.
“I don’t believe in surviving as a manager. I believe in trying to do something. Right now, you’re seeing a very good football team in the Championship.”
Hull defender John Egan was unhappy at the decision of referee Ben Toner to award the penalty against him for handball, claiming the ball hit him in the face and not on the arm.
“It’s still so raw because the penalty decided the game,” said Egan. “The ball hit my face so I don’t know how they gave the penalty.
“I don’t think the referee gave it because the ref didn’t blow the whistle. It was the linesman I think who gave it and I asked the ref to go over to him and ask him if he’s 100 per cent sure because the ball hit my face.
“He didn’t want to do that, it was tough to take and to lose a game in that manner is frustrating.”
Hull boss Ruben Selles added: “The defenders told me the ball hit his face but the referee had a different interpretation so there is nothing I can do. Going 1-0 down made us chase the game.
“We could have defended the situation before the penalty arrived a little better, but the reality was that the game completely changed after that. That was the key action of the game.
“We weren’t good in the first half and they were really good in applying pressure on us. We ended up trying to overplay the situation and we should have gone forward more.”
