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Tonight’s message from Russell Martin 14:20 - Aug 16 with 627 viewsKeithHaynes



Good evening and welcome back to the Swansea.com Stadium for our home fixture against Millwall.

We return home in good spirits after picking up victory over Blackpool at the weekend, and we are keen to carry the confidence from that performance and result into tonight’s game.

I was so pleased for the players because they showed the resolve and mentality to respond to a couple of disappointing results with a first-half display of real energy and aggression, and they ended up getting a deserved reward with our late winner.

It was a long bus journey to Blackpool amidst the heat and the traffic, and the conditions for the game itself were similarly sweltering, but the guys overcame those challenges and hopefully gave our supporters a weekend to remember with some 1,500 Swans fans in the away end.

We are always so incredibly grateful for the support we receive, and it was great to share the victory with our fans, who always travel in their numbers and give us outstanding, vocal backing.

The players showed real spirit to regain control of the game after a difficult 15 minutes at the start of the second half, and that was exemplified by Michael Obafemi unselfishly setting up Olivier Ntcham for our winner.

It would have been so easy for Michael to want to be the hero and to ignore the options he had, but he recognised Olivier had made a huge effort to get up there to support him and he made the right decision to give us three points. Moments like that tell you a lot about the character of the people we have in our dressing room.

I also have to mention Andy Fisher, who had an outstanding game. His penalty save took the headlines — something which is testimony to the work he and goalkeeping coach Dean Thornton put in every day — but his all-round game was excellent, and shows the growth he has made since coming to Swansea.

We now face a Millwall side who are well-coached and have a clear way of playing under Gary Rowett.

We enjoyed two really good tussles with them last season, I am sure tonight will be no different and they will be looking to put together another strong season after just missing out on the play-offs last term.

The challenge for us is to try and bring the energy and aggression we showed in attack at Blackpool to this game on home soil.

We were really disappointed with the result against Blackburn the last time we played in front of you, and we want to play with control and real intent, and hopefully have a positive result to show for it.

As ever, we will try to be the team we want to be and look to deliver a performance that gives us the best possible chance of winning.

I also want to take the opportunity to offer my sincere condolences — and those of the club — to the family and friends of Lenny Johnrose following his sad passing.

I know Lenny was a hugely popular figure on and off the field at Swansea City, and he made a vital contribution to this club at a key moment in its history.

We have coaches and staff at Swansea City who worked alongside Lenny and held him in incredibly high regard, and it is only right that we as a club pay our respects to him this evening.

A great believer in taking anything you like to wherever you want to.
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