Swansea City boss Steve Cooper has told his players to 'man up' ahead of their Championship clash with Queens Park Rangers tonight.
The Swans will look to rectify their weekend loss at home to Derby County tonight - Phillip Cocu's side claimed a 3-2 win after an exciting affair in South Wales, with QPR also losing at the weekend.
Mark Warburton's side recorded their fifth-straight away defeat, losing 2-0 at Huddersfield.
Speaking to Dai Sport ahead of tonight's clash at the Liberty Stadium, Cooper gave his verdict on the weekend defeat to Derby:
“We need to be strong enough to man up and dust ourselves off to get our head around the next two games.
“It’s QPR first and we need to stand up and be counted. I’m never going to be joyful after a defeat. We lost a game of football and it was in our hands. We let Derby off the hook.
“I feel we owe ourselves one – I’m not interested so much in any opposition. We need to get back to winning ways and that’s what we’re going to do.”
After QPR tonight, Swansea travel to Hull City at the weekend. They currently sit 9th-placed in the Championship table and only four points off of 6th-place Preston.
Despite QPR's dismal away form, Cooper is still wary of the threat that they pose. They've scored more goals than both Leeds United and Fulham this season but have conceded only one less than 23rd-place Barnsley.
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"They’re a good team and play in a good way," said Cooper on QPR. "Like always, we’ll be aware of their strengths and we’ve got to bounce back and show a lot better aspects of the game. If we do that we’ll be in a good place.
“I’ve not looked at the league table to be honest. There will still be twists and turns, but we’re getting close to countdown now. The only way you get close to the play-offs is by winning games. That’s got to be our focus.”
The verdict
Both Swansea and QPR are capable of producing fine performances in the Championship, but Swansea will be fully expecting to take advantage of an out-of-favour side.
The Swans had been beaten 5-1 by QPR earlier in the year but both have had mixed times since then, and that'll be far from the scoreline in South Wales tonight.