Swansea Manager Steve Cooper says that star man Andre Ayew showed real moment of excellence in their 1-0 win against Barnsley in their Championship semi final play off.

Kyle Naughton played a fine pass down the Swans' right, into Ayew's feet.

The Ghana forward then turned on to his left foot just inside the penalty area and curled a brilliant shot into the far corner in the 39th minute to give his side the only goal and a win in the match.

Swansea have a slender 1-0 advantage going into the second leg which will come off on Saturday at the Liberty Stadium.

Speaking after the match, Cooper was full of praise for his boys but admits they could have showed more quality on the ball.
“We knew what the game would be, we felt it would go a certain way and away from home you have to respect that and stand up to it and match it," Cooper said, as reported by his club's official website.

“I thought we did that. We got a real moment of excellence with Andre’s goal and we managed to continue to be strong defensively.

“We could have shown a bit more quality on the ball at times, but I get it, the fans were back in tonight and there was a good atmosphere.

“Barnsley are a difficult team to play against with the way they play and there is that psychological thing where you are trying to protect the lead a little bit.”

“We did that, there were not many chances in the game and it was a night where you had to be prepared to fight for everything," Cooper added.

“Freddie made some good saves, Marc and Ben – two 20-year-olds – were excellent at the back and have a great role model in Ryan Bennett.

“It was just a good effort from the boys, it was not a typical Swansea game but you have to respect that and you have to deal with it.

“Andre has then made the difference and we know he can do that, we’ve seen it plenty of times.”

Ayew has now taken his season goal tally for Swansea to 17, one more strike than he registered for the club last season.