A thirteen game unbeaten run, eight straight home wins, most potent attack in the division are all stats that lie behind the Swans at the moment but nobody is getting carried away with dreams of the Championship as they prepare to face Crewe this afternoon.
Their hosts for the day were beaten 2-1 at the Liberty just over two weeks ago – a scoreline that does not reflect the play of the game itself where the Swans totally dominated. But with many of the squad knowing what it’s like to fall away at the business end of the season nobody is taking anything for granted and they aren’t contemplating promotion until it happens. If it happens.
“To be honest, it is difficult not to talk about promotion,” midfielder Darren Pratley told the Western Mail.
“But Swansea have been in the position before when they were top at Christmas and I am sure they were looking at the table thinking they were going to get promoted and then they ended up just about making the play-offs.
“I think most of us are experienced enough not to get carried away. Don’t get me wrong, being top and 10 points clear with 18 games to go is a nice position.
“In fact you could sit down and work out how many games we need to win to get promotion now.
“We deserve to be top of the league, I think, just through the amount of hard work we have been putting in,” asserts Pratley
“We have had some big tests put in front if us and we have come through them.
“Our position in the league at this point in time is definitely deserved.
“I think this year is different from last year in that we don’t miss one player if they are out.
“Last year, if Lee Trundle was out, people were wondering where the goals were going to come from. This year we can score goals from everywhere. We have good enough players and a good enough squad this time that, if a player is missing, someone will come in and do a job.
“My main concern is that the team do well. It is a team game. It doesn’t really matter whether I am playing or not,” said Pratley.
“I am part of Swansea City Football Club, it is not about me as an individual. Me playing as an individual, if it does not help Swansea gain in place in the Championship, then it is not important.
“I’ve not been worried. I want the boys to do well it is not as if I am at home praying for them to lose, I want them to do well. As long as we get to the Championship, I’m not worried.
“But I’m confident in my own ability. When I have played I think I have done well. I’ve been working hard and I feel fresh. If I am called upon I am ready.
“It’s going to be a tougher game than we faced at the Liberty Stadium, I think Crewe are quite good at home,” added Pratley.
“They had a couple of players missing in that game. I think they are back now. I don’t think their position in the league is where they should be with the players they have got.
“Every game from now on until the end of the season is going to be a fight. Crewe are down the bottom so they are not going to be giving us the three points. We are going to have to fight, but we are ready for that.”
