Emotional Hartson sees Swans on song

Swans boss Paulo Sousa felt his side played some of their best football of the season as he put one over on his old QPR side at the Liberty Stadium.

Goals from Mark Gower and Lee Trundle earned the Swans a 2-0 win to extend their unbeaten run to five games and push them up into 14th place in the Championship.

"In some parts of the game we played our best football of the season,'' beamed Paulo. "I am so proud of them.

"It's always nice to beat your old side. As a player I always tended to win when I came up against my former teams; now I've done it as a manager.

"I was told Swansea hadn't beaten QPR in the league since 1955, so it was about time we changed that.

"It was an important win against a good quality team looking for promotion. QPR came with a lot of confidence on the back of some good results.

"It was a great show because my players understood the right moments to win the game. We kept possession well and chose the right moments to take advantage of their nine men.

"It is a great step for us and an important three points going into the international break.''

Paulo also paid tribute to Mark Gower who finally scored his first league goal in 46 attempts.

"It's all been a question of confidence with Mark,'' he added. "We've always believed in him and we've been working hard with him because before he came here he scored a lot of goals with Southend.

"I hope this goal will help him believe in himself a lot more, because he's a quality player.''

But while his goalscorers will make the headlines over the weekend, Paulo gave a special mention to his goalkeeper, Dorus de Vries, who pulled off two tremendous saves after the break with the game still goalless.

"When we need Dorus he is always there for us,'' he pointed out. "They were two special saves at important moments in the game.''

John Hartson, the former Wales striker and Swans fan, made an emotional appearance before kick-off

QPR manager, Jim Magilton, added: "We started really well but should have scored in the first half.

"Swansea came out much better after the interval, but their keeper still had to make a couple of great saves to stop us from taking the lead.

"It was two influential players who were dismissed and we carried one or two others, but we still tried to play positive football despite the setbacks.

"I felt comfortable for the opening half hour but that lack of a cutting edge has cost us."