Match Highlights

WATCH HIGHLIGHTS

SWANSEA CITY 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 1

SWANSEA CITY EXTENDED THEIR UNBEATEN RUN TO EIGHT GAMES AS MICHAEL OBAFEMI’S STRIKE SAW THEM EARN A POINT AFTER A FRENETIC SECOND-HALF AGAINST PLAY-OFF CHASING MIDDLESBROUGH AT THE SWANSEA.COM STADIUM.

TEAM LINEUPS

Swans: Andy Fisher; Ben Cabango, Kyle Naughton, Joel Latibeaudiere; Cyrus Christie, Flynn Downes, Matt Grimes (captain), Ryan Manning (Olivier Ntcham 72); Joel Piroe, Hannes Wolf; Michael Obafemi.

Subs not used: Ben Hamer, Jay Fulton, Korey Smith, Kyle Joseph, Nathanael Ogbeta, Cameron Congreve.

Middlesbrough: Luke Daniels, Anfernee Dijksteel, Marcus Tavernier (Martin Payero 90), Jonny Howson (captain), Paddy McNair, Duncan Watmore (Aaron Connolly 65), Sol Bamba, Marc Bola, Isaiah Jones, Josh Coburn (Andraz Sporar 66), Riley McGree.

Subs not used: Joe Lumley, Neil Taylor, Lee Peltier, Folarin Balogun.

Referee: David Webb

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SWANSEA CITY SUPPORTER CATH DYER WINS EFL SUPPORTER OF THE SEASON

Swansea City Disabled Supporters' Association (DSA) secretary Cath Dyer has won EFL Supporter of the Year award for her incredible efforts in helping and supporting her fellow fans.

The award recognises one individual who has gone above and beyond in support of their club and Cath received the honour at the annual EFL awards evening which took place at Grosvenor Hotel in London on April 24.

It’s the second award Cath has won this season, after she was presented with the Football Supporters' Association Jacqui Forster Memorial Award in February. An instrumental part of making the Swansea City DSA as successful as it is, she’s also worked with football clubs up and down the country to help them set up DSAs.

Cath was the lead figure behind the creation of a disabled supporter association monthly meetup between all EFL DSAs, which allows supporters to share ideas and best practice. Click here to read more about her nomination.

"I want to congratulate Cath on winning the award," said Swansea City head coach Russell Martin. "She thoroughly deserves it for all her hard work over the years, her immense support for the club and her help for everyone in it, including us as staff since we've been here.

"We're very grateful to have someone like Cath around."

Everyone at Swansea City would like to congratulate Cath on her award.

STILETTOS AND STUDS BY JULIE KISSICK

Apologies if this column feels a bit self-indulgent this evening. But, as it’s the penultimate home game of the season I hope you won’t mind too much.

It’s been quite a campaign on and off the pitch - and for me on a personal level. If you’re regular readers of this column, you’ll know I’ve been fortunate enough to work on publicising the Former Players’ Association since its launch last August.

Firstly, I want to give a big shout out to Swans TV commentator Anthony O’Connell for the plug he gave to the FPA during commentary last weekend. It is always a pleasant surprise when someone unexpectedly mentions something you are associated with.

Tonight’s game is the rearranged fixture with Bournemouth, (or is it Bournemuth, Michael Obafemi?!) The game was due to happen in February, but it was postponed for safety reasons, following damage to the Swansea. com Stadium caused by Storm Eunice and the ongoing adverse weather conditions at the time.

I’ve been looking forward to this fixture because one of the Cherries’ coaching team is related to someone I interviewed a few months back, one of our oldest former players and a man who made a name for himself while at Swansea, playing for Wales and when he was wearing a Tottenham Hotspur shirt.

I’m referring to Cliff Jones, of course. Cliff’s grandson is Matt Wells, Scott Parker’s number two and one of the people responsible for the success of the club this season. Bournemouth are second in the Championship table with two points and two games in hand over their nearest rivals, Huddersfield.

When I spoke to Cliff at the tail-end of last year, he was obviously very proud of what Matt had achieved in his career and he was hoping to get to the game and combine a visit to Swansea with a chance to see his grandson and some other family and friends.

You can read the interviews with Cliff on the FPA section of the club website, HERE.

And there is another SwanseaBournemouth connection in the form of Manchester United’s Ethan Laird, on loan to us in the first half of the season and to our Championship rivals since January.

Laird made an excellent contribution during his months with us but didn’t feature for the Cherries until Good Friday. He struggled with injuries and subsequently found it difficult to break into Parker’s first team, although he has started the last three games.

Despite only winning one of their last four in the league, Bournemouth are in a strong position to finish second in the table and avoid the play-offs, something they will be hoping to do having lost to Brentford in last season’s semi-finals. (That’s another connection between us and our visitors this evening, only we lost to Brentford in the final.)

No doubt Russell Martin will be looking for a reaction to the 4-0 defeat to Bournemouth last time out and with them wanting to secure automatic promotion, it should be one to savour this evening.

MATT GRIMES IS COMING TO THE END OF ANOTHER SEASON WHERE HE HAS BEEN EVER-PRESENT FOR SWANSEA CITY. THE SKIPPER RECENTLY BROUGHT UP 200 APPEARANCES FOR THE CLUB, AND HE TOOK THE TIME TO SIT DOWN WITH US AND REFLECT ON HIS CAREER.

Let’s start off at the beginning. Why did you decide to join Swansea? You were being linked with the likes of Liverpool and others at the time. What was it about this club?

“The style of football was the main thing, I’m just speaking for myself, obviously other players will tell you different, but I didn’t want to go to Liverpool where I feel like you could be forgotten about straight away.

“I was told that Swansea was a very family-orientated club, which was very similar to Exeter in the sense that it is by the sea.

“I felt like it was perfect for me to come here, play my football, improve, and progress, all while living in a place that is really nice. It was a no-brainer for me really.

“Once you play senior football, you see yourself as a senior player. To then go somewhere and play under23s football, in my opinion, is not the best for your development.

“I would argue that under-23s players now are told to go on loan as much as you can to get senior experience.

“That was a factor aswell, and alot of pieces of the jigsaw fell into place and I just decided that it (signing for Swansea) was the best option.”

You had made your first Premier League appearances within a few months, and then scored your first goal at the start of the following season against York. Do you remember it?

“Yes (I remember it). On the edge of the box, on the left-hand side, and it took a deflection. “I felt more relief than anything because I thought I was having a stinker. But I hadn’t played for a while, so I was a little nervous before the game. I just wanted to make a good account of myself.

“It wasn’t one of my purest goals, there has been better, but it was good and I was happy because I had missed a sitter earlier in the game.

“Garry Monk was the manager, and we had a plan in place, and he said he wanted to keep me until Christmas time and give me as many minutes as possible. But, if it got to that time and I wasn’t happy with the amount I was playing, I could go on loan in January.

“He was then sacked just before Christmas, so I didn’t go out on loan until February. I went on loan and played as many games as possible, and that was good for my development.

“It was a very in-between sort of season. I came off the bench a couple of times, was in the squad, out of the squad, so that was a tough one looking back on it.

“Playing at Exeter was always upwards, I was progressing, and got my move. I needed to play more minutes than I was at the time to keep progressing.

“It plateaued a bit and then went on loan to Blackburn and got myself going again.

“I thought I was back on track and then went to Leeds.”

That was obviously a hard time for you, I know you’ve spoken before about how character building it was. How do you reflect on it?

“The mental state I was in that season (at Leeds), I don’t wish on any footballer.