Russell Martin lauded Harry Darling's return to the side in Swansea City's win over Sunderland after admitting the defender has taken time to adapt to his new surroundings.
The centre-back joined the Swans from Martin's former club MK Dons for a fee of £1.4m in the summer transfer window and started each of his side's first five league games of the campaign.
However, he fell behind the likes of Nathan Wood and Ben Cabango in the pecking order, starting just one of the Swans' seven matches prior to the 2-1 success against Sunderland. He operated at the heart of a back three and scored the home side's second goal as Martin's troops recorded a fourth successive league victory in beating Tony Mowbray's men.
And Martin highlighted Darling's defensive efforts against the Black Cats as the most pleasing aspect of the 23-year-old's display in south Wales. "I'm really pleased for H. He's had to be patient because Woody and Ben have been outstanding," said Martin.
"The same as Kyle [Naughton] in between them who helps us so much with so many aspects of the game, especially the young guys either side of him.
"I think the most pleasing bit with us from Harry today was how he defended the box in the second-half. He defended really robustly. With some people, it just takes a bit longer to adapt to a different environment and level.
"We know what he's going to be and what he's capable of, but Woody and Ben have just been really top so it's been difficult for him. But a brilliant performance, I'm really pleased for him to score."
Victory kept Swansea in sixth place in the Championship, although they moved to within three points of league leaders Sheffield United ahead of next weekend's trip to Burnley.
It was the first time the Swans had clinched four successive league triumphs since August 2019, although following what have been a brutal eight days since the international break, Martin admits his side's low energy levels told in the second-half against Sunderland.
"We're too tired to feel anything at the moment," said Martin. "I'm immensely proud of the players, staff and the fans. To get the three wins is an incredible return. If anyone had said at the start of the week that we'd get nine points, we'd probably be the only people who would believe we'd be capable of that.
"They've shown immense courage and energy. The last two games certainly showed today in the second-half. We started the game with brilliant energy and were so aggressive. We looked a threat.
"But we just couldn't sustain that energy, it started creeping in in the last 15 minutes of the first-half. They [Sunderland] played on Tuesday, it's very different. We got back to the stadium here on Thursday morning at half three, it's not easy. That showed, for sure.
"The second-half was a bit more painful and I don't think we're overly satisfied with the performance, apart from the first half an hour. I still thought we had some brilliant moments in the second-half when Olivier [Ntcham] came on and we changed Joel's [Piroe] position a bit.
"Their goalkeeper has made more saves than Steven [Benda]. They're a really good team by the way. I really like them, Sunderland. They'll cause a lot of teams problems this year.
"The lads showed huge resilience, togetherness, determination and desire to protect what we had. We've won four games in a row in this league, and after the start we had to the season, that's no mean feat."
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