Michael Carrick praised his Middlesbrough players for digging deep and finding a way to win, in what Swansea boss Luke Williams described as an “atrocious game of football” at the Riverside.
Williams was furious after his side slumped to a 2-0 defeat that leaves the Swans just five points above the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone.
But Carrick’s Boro are now unbeaten in their last seven matches and are just six points off the play-off places ahead of Wednesday’s crucial trip to Hull.
Emmanuel Latte Lath came up with two moments of quality to secure Boro’s second home win in a week, with the Ivorian striking either side of half-time to take his tally for the season to 10 in the league and 12 in all competitions.
Latte Lath opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time then wrapped up the points 11 minutes from time with a clinical right-footed finish.
Carrick said: “I’m delighted to be honest. It’s the type of game that can pass you by if you don’t do the right things.
“I thought the boys were disciplined and effective and efficient in the work we wanted to do.
“We knew they’re good in taking the ball in possession. We were patient and disciplined, defended the box well and defended in our half well.”
Latte Lath now has five goals in nine games since returning from injury.
Carrick said: “Manu is coming into form. He’s had a big impact, he’s had a good return and hopefully there’s a few more in him.
“Hopefully his form carries on. When you’re on that run you want to keep surfing it. He’s definitely doing that. We have two or three challenging games coming up, we’ll need that impact player around the box.”
Boro’s rivals for the play-off places – Norwich, Hull and Coventry – all won on Saturday but Carrick said his players just need to concentrate on themselves as they look to force their way into the top six.
He said: “We’re coming from behind. We’ve put a bit of a run together, we just have to try and extend that as long as we can.
“Wednesday is a new challenge and will have a bit of a say on what the picture looks like after that. We just have to keep chipping away and see how we end up.”
Swansea mustered only one shot on target at the Riverside and have now won just one of their last six games.
Williams, who took over in January after leaving Notts County, said his players need to prove they should be part of his long-term plans at the club.
He fumed: “It was just an atrocious game of football, an absolutely diabolical example of the Championship.
“It would have been nicer if we’d won, at least we could have then pretended to be happy about something, but goodness me.
“There was nothing right about that. It was like going to a charity game in the summer, no atmosphere, a bit of talking in the crowd.
“The first goal was a comedy, the second one isn’t loads better. It’s hard to find anything good about today, especially when you don’t get any points.”
Vardy eyes 100-point season after Leicester's title win
Jamie Vardy has challenged his Leicester City team-mates to reach 100 points after sealing the Championship title with one game to spare.
The Foxes were promoted back to the Premier League without kicking a ball after Leeds United’s 4-0 defeat to QPR on Friday, but they needed to win on Monday to earn top spot.
Enzo Maresca’s side cruised to a 3-0 victory over Preston through Vardy’s brace and Kasey McAteer’s header, moving them to 97 points.
With one last milestone in their reach, Vardy wants to make sure they end an already successful season on a high.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “We can celebrate it tonight, but now we have another target which is 100 points.
“We are over the moon. It has gone by quick but it's a graft. Not many days off, I'll tell you that.
“The lads - they've given it all. Thoroughly deserved, and I'm glad we've had 5000 to come and celebrate with us. It's not like it's 20 minutes up the road."
After a run of just three victories from nine games in the league between mid-February and April, Leicester have now won each of their last three outings.
Maresca has praised his players for their hard work in what he labelled a “tough season”.
“Fantastic, it's been a fantastic season. The Championship is a tough season and very intense, but I'm very happy," said Maresca.
"Now it's time to enjoy the work of the season to bring this special club back to the Premier League. We deserve it.
“The last two days they have been fantastic. We got promoted, but it was difficult in game preparation. But we used all of today to prepare for the game, the morning and afternoon. It was good.”
Barcelona 4-2 Valencia: Lewandowski hat-trick leads Barca to 4-2 win over 10-man Valencia
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski scored a second-half hat-trick to help his side fight back to claim a hard-fought 4-2 win over Valencia, who were leading 2-1 when they were reduced to 10 men just before the break.
Fermin Lopez's header from a Raphinha cross put Barca in front after 22 minutes, but Valencia's Hugo Duro struck in the 27th and Pepelu scored from the spot after a foul by Ronald Araujo 11 minutes later to give the visitors the lead.
But after Valencia keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili saw red for a handball outside the box before the break, Xavi's side dominated and Lewandowski scored with two headers from corners in the 49th and 82nd minutes before getting his treble with a free-kick in added time.
The win postponed Real Madrid's almost inevitable LaLiga title celebrations for a couple of weeks as Carlo Ancelotti's side sit atop the standings on 84 points.
Barcelona moved back to second in LaLiga on Monday with 73 points as they leapfrogged surprise package Girona, who are third with 71. Those two teams will meet in a Catalonia derby on Saturday.
Data debrief
Barcelona conceded two goals in the first half of a home game for the second time this season, after also doing so against Girona in LaLiga in December 2023.
However, Lewandowski's goals have been invaluable to La Blaugrana this season as he's earned 17 points with his 16 goals in the league.
Preston 0-3 Leicester City: Foxes seal Championship title in style
Leicester City cruised to a 3-0 win over Preston in the Championship on Monday to clinch the title with a game to spare.
Jamie Vardy was the star for the Foxes as he scored in both halves before Kasey McAteer made sure of the points with an unmarked header.
Abdul Fatawu had the chance to cap an already memorable night for the travelling fans but hit the post with his curler.
Preston slumped to a fourth consecutive defeat, while Leicester go into their final game against Blackburn Rovers with the knowledge that they will lift the trophy after the final whistle.
Data Debrief
Jamie Vardy has scored 18 goals this season (two in this game), more than any other Leicester player in the competition. He has also netted in his last three games, scoring four goals in total.
It was a dominant performance from the Foxes, who had 19 shots with 11 of those on target. At the other end, Preston only managed to test Jakub Stolarczyk once from their five attempts.
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