John Swift: Win lifts pressure but now we've set the standard
Albion players felt the pressure after a four-game winless run in the league, but they have now set the benchmark according to playmaker John Swift.
Despite producing good displays in three of their four games, Albion picked up just three points from a possible 12 in their opening four games.
Ahead of facing high-flying Hull, Swift – who picked up his first goal in the thumping 5-2 win – admitted the players were feeling the need to get their first victory. Now it has come, he believes the players have set the standard they need to perform to week in, week out.
He said: “We want to perform like this every single game, if we scored five every game it would be nice.
“But we know the Championship is tough and there will be hard games ahead, but even if we perform at half the performance we did here, we could maybe get one or two. Then perhaps we’ll just get the one and we’ll be the ones to sit off and get a one goal win.
“It was good to get our first victory. The pressure was on, I think everybody knows that. We need to get our first win. The pressures off a little bit now. We have the cup game next, we want to win it and progress as far as we can.
“The next league game is massively important.”
It was the first time Albion have taken the lead in a game, having fallen behind in three of their opening four matches so far this season.
And Swift believes as soon as Albion got their noses ahead for the first time, confidence began to grow.
He added: “You could see the confidence after we scored the first goal. The second goal took all of the pressure off us. You could see the little touches here and there, the passes, especially with both wingers.
“They had more freedom to play their natural game, and that went for me as well.”
