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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

Russell Martin's Cyrus Christie hope as Swansea City boss reveals West Brom weakness his side fully exploited

Russell Martin hopes Swansea City's 2-0 win over West Brom helps to convince Cyrus Christie to stay with the club beyond this season.

The Republic of Ireland international joined the Swans on loan from Fulham in January and has made a real impact since making the switch to south Wales.

Christie notched his second goal for Swansea in Monday night's win against the Baggies at The Hawthorns on what was his 10th appearance for the club.

WalesOnline revealed last month that Martin hopes to hold contract talks with Christie - who is a free agent in the summer - in the near future over a possible permanent move to the Swansea.com Stadium.

And head coach Martin believes Christie is fully enjoying life with the Swans having been restricted to just one appearance with Fulham in the opening half of the campaign.

"Cyrus has been great. He's really improved us, another one, we don't possess too many with real experience at this level or that maturity in his age and game management," said Martin.

"He's been massive for us, and he's got better and better because, that's one of the things about signing people in January, it's tough. He's sacrificed money to come here and he hasn't played football for a long time, so it's taken him a bit of time to get him up to speed.

"He's been brilliant for us on and off the pitch. He's a top professional. I think he's shown a lot of the guys what it takes to be at this level for a long time.

"Hopefully he's really enjoying it, I think he is. We're really enjoying having him and hopefully nights like this will convince him that this will be the place for him in the future."

READ MORE: The frank chat Swansea City boss Russell Martin had to have with Joel Piroe now paying off big time

Christie fired beyond Sam Johnstone just five minutes after Joel Piroe struck his 15th goal of the campaign as Swansea ended their run of six away matches without victory by seeing off the Baggies.

It served as yet another blow for the promotion hopes of Steve Bruce's side - who are now eight points adrift of the play-off places having failed to win any of their five matches under the former Manchester United defender.

Swansea's late brace in the Midlands mean West Brom have now conceded 12 times in the final 15 minutes of Championship matches this term - which is more than they have shipped in all of their entire first halves combined.

On the flip side, the Swans have bagged 10 goals in the final 15 minutes of league games under Martin which makes the 76-90 minute block the most productive segment for the club when it comes to bulging the net.

"We spoke about it. We have a 90-minute game plan, I feel the longer the game goes on, if we're winning or it's 0-0, we have a massive chance because of how much work we ask the opposition to do without the ball," added Martin.

"I think their record finishing games and conceding late on is not very good. I think the lads really believed in that.

"We spoke about the need for being patient but to show a bit more willingness, positivity and belief in themselves in the final third, and they definitely did that in the second-half."

Swansea return to action against Coventry City on Saturday. Kick-off is at 3pm.

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