Gorka Pintado ended his marathon goal famine as Swansea downed promotion rivals Leicester - at the third time of asking.
Sunday People
02:13, 11 Feb 2013Updated 02:20, 11 Feb 2013
Gorka Pintado ended his marathon goal famine as Swansea downed promotion rivals Leicester - at the third time of asking.
Pintado was able to raise a glass as he broke his 10-month drought to leapfrog his side above the Foxes and into the play-off zone.
And it was a victory well worth toasting for the Welsh side, having lost twice to Leicester this season.
After their FA Cup win followed on from an opening-day success, Leicester would have believed they had the Indian sign over their opponents, but were left drowning their sorrows.
Despite a second-half onslaught, Swansea never looked in danger of falling to another defeat as they moved into fourth place with a first win over Leicester in 54 years, to the delight of their boss Paulo Sousa.
He said: "The team has started to mature. We've lost to them twice this season but it didn't affect the players. We showed spirit, quality and great character.
"They started the season better than we did and we didn't have the luck on our side in the cup game.
"But we looked stronger here. There's more depth and quality in our squad now. Leicester are tough and they don't lose many games, so we have to be happy.
Confidence
"The demands during the season will make it tough for us to stay in this position, but we are capable of staying there. I'm always a positive person so I believe we can stay where we are.
"I'm pleased Gorka has scored - especially for strikers as it's his main job. Like every striker, they thrive on goals and confidence.
"Hopefully he can kick on now. He will be frustrated he didn't score more goals as he had the chances."
Leicester, playing their first away game of 2010, began the stronger and Matty Fryatt should have turned home Paul Gallagher's inviting cross at the far post in the opening minutes.
The blistering start from the visitors put Swansea on the back foot as the Welsh side were mainly reduced to long-range efforts on goal.
But in Nathan Dyer the Swans had an outlet as his pace was causing the Foxes all sorts of problems.
And it was no surprise to see the flying winger create the winning goal for Pintado in the 32nd minute.
After Darren Pratley had sent Dyer down the right flank, his pinpoint cross was met by the unmarked Pintado to volley home his first Swansea goal in 29 games.
It prompted a fierce reaction from Leicester after the restart as they pegged Swansea back.
After Pintado had miskicked in front of goal, it was one-way traffic for the remainder of the game.
But every attack was blunted by Swansea's watertight defence.
The only scares came when Lloyd Dyer's 25-yard shot flew inches past the post before Martyn Waghorn saw his penalty appeal waved away.
And you knew it wouldn't be the Foxes' day when substitute Dany N'Guessan failed to connect late on with the goal at his mercy as Swansea held on.
Leicester manager Nigel Pearson said: "I'm disappointed not to get anything out of the game. It's frustrating as we didn't pass the ball well enough. We worked hard throughout the game and I can't fault the players' work-rate, but we didn't retain possession as we usually do.
"It was a game of very few chances and we didn't show enough quality when we had them.
"We have to pick ourselves up as we are still well-placed in a tight league.
"Swansea and ourselves are in the shake-up and will have promotion ambitions. If we both maintain our form, we could even end up playing each other in the play-offs."
Swansea: De Vries 6 - Rangel 6, Monk 7, Tate 7, Bessone 7 (Williams, 77mins) - *DYER 8, Britton 7, Allen 7 (Serran, 72mins), Pratley 7, Cotterill 6 - Pintado 7 (Beattie, 77mins).
Leicester: Weale 6 - Morrison 5, Brown 6, Hobbs 6, McGivern 5 - *GALLAGHER 7, Oakley 6 , King 6, Dyer 6 (N'Guessan, 70mins) - Kermorgant 4 (Waghorn, 59mins, 6), Fryatt 6 (Howard, 59mins, 6).
Referee: F Graham 6.