Curtis thrilled to sign off on Swansea reign with victory

Alan Curtis says Swansea City’s new head coach Francesco Guidolin will have been encouraged with what he saw during a 1-0 win over Watford at the Liberty Stadium on Monday.

Ashley Williams’ first-half header earned the hosts the points as Guidolin watched from the stands ahead of taking charge of his first Premier League match, which will come away to Everton on Sunday.

Curtis has presided over eight games since Garry Monk’s departure in December – winning just twice – but the former interim manager felt Swansea’s players signed off on his reign with a positive display.

“It’s the start of a long road from now until the end of the season – I can resign now with a clear conscience,” Curtis joked to Sky Sports.

“The new man looking in can assess what he sees but I’d imagine he’ll be more than pleasantly surprised with what he saw.

“He has bags of experience, albeit in Italy, but he’s probably someone we need, an experienced leader. As a management team we’ve done as best we can, we put up some good performances.

“If he can get those performance and eke out results as well then that’s what we’ll be looking for. 

“He will have seen videos of us but in the first half he saw what a good team we are and that there’s a spirit and ability in the camp.”

Swansea moved out of the bottom three as a result of their narrow win at the Liberty Stadium, having enjoyed the better of the first half before enduring some nervy moments after the break.

“It’s a huge three points,” added Curtis. “We talked about the importance [of starting well], especially in the Premier League where if you get the first goal it gives you a good grip in the game.

“In our position, we had to start well. But once we got that first goal I thought we played some good stuff.

“I think the crowd played a huge part, they headed every ball that came into the box.”