Your Swansea City headlines for Friday, April 1.
Bale sends Cardiff boss derby message
Gareth Bale has urged Steve Morison's Cardiff City side to beat Swansea City so he can wind-up former Swan Connor Roberts.
Bale was training with his country alongside Morison's men at the Vale Resort during the international break as Wales played Austria and Czech Republic in Cardiff. Bluebirds boss Morison has revealed Cardiff-born star Bale has been rooting for his hometown club ahead of this weekend's South Wales derby.
"I saw him every day he was here in Wales camp, I said 'hello' to him every day, all he said to me was ‘Make sure you beat Swansea!’, that's the only comment he made to me. Outside of that there’s been no conversation about that. I'm not someone who is going to get caught up in something that is – at the minute – a fantasy." You can read the full story here.
Morison added: "The actual conversation was, 'You're doing all right, aren't you?', 'Yeah, I'm doing all right,' then he said, 'Make sure you beat them, I want to hammer Connor!"
Roberts left Swansea for Burnley in the most recent summer transfer window but continues to show his support for the club he joined as a schoolboy. You can read more on that here.
And captain Matt Grimes has said the Swans will be fighting to give former team-mate Roberts something to cheer about.
"If he's [Morison] fighting for Gareth, we'll fight for Connor, so no problem there," said the captain.
O'Leary in dugout for Cardiff
Kris O'Leary will be in the Swansea dugout for the South Wales derby clash with Cardiff.
Goalkeeper coach Dean Thornton is required to serve a two-game stadium ban after being charged by the Football Association for his behaviour following the 5-1 loss to Fulham. It means he will not be allowed to attend the games at Cardiff and Millwall.
And Martin has revealed under-23s boss O'Leary has offered his assistance to the senior coaching staff for the clash with the Bluebirds.
"Paul's [Wavell] been up with us, the under-23s goalkeeping coach, for the last 10 days to have a relationship with Fish and see how he needs to prepare. That's been fine," said Martin.
"Kris O'Leary will be on the bench with us tomorrow to take on the role of Dean in terms of being on the mic to the analysts, clipping certain bits up and feeding stuff back to us. Kris has a brilliant understanding of what we're trying to do, he's implemented it brilliantly with the under-23s.
"I think he wants to be involved in the Cardiff game as well, when I asked him he jumped at the opportunity."
Who will win the South Wales derby? Have your say in the comments section below.
Grimes' Cardiff confidence
Matt Grimes believes Cardiff's improved form is irrelevant as Swansea bid to make South Wales derby history by completing a first ever double in the contest this weekend.
The Bluebirds have moved to within two points of the Swans ahead of the meeting between the sides on Saturday. It means they will climb above Martin's men if they can emerge victorious in front of their home supporters.
"I think they've definitely had an upturn, but derby games stand by themselves," said Grimes. "If a team is in good form or poor form, the game stands for itself and form goes out of the window. We're just looking forward to the challenge."
Grimes has been involved in numerous derby matches during his time at Swansea, although this will be the first opportunity for several players - including Flynn Downes and Joel Piroe - to play an away fixture against Cardiff for the Swans.
"As soon as you sign here, you know the significance of it. The players, if not the staff, but definitely everyone around the city, make everyone aware of it as soon as they come. Cyrus has spoken about being here a matter of months and he already knows how huge it is. It's not something you really have to try and get people to know about and get people up for it because they just know as soon as they sign."
