Williams eases Darling concerns

Luke Williams has eased concerns over the fitness of Harry Darling after revealing the centre-back was substituted during Wednesday's win at Derby County because of illness.

Darling came off after an hour of Swansea's 2-1 win at Pride Park, breaking up his partnership with Ben Cabango.

Before the trip to Pride Park, Darling and Cabango had played every minute of this Championship campaign alongside each other at the heart of Williams' defence.

But the Swansea head coach has suggested that despite his early exit at Derby, Darling should be in contention for Saturday's home game against Portsmouth.

"He has been really ill and to be honest the performance he put in given how unwell he has been was incredible," Williams said.

"I am really proud of him for that. He was spent [when he came off], totally spent. He gave us everything he could today.

"He'll be fine. It's a bug and it’s on the way out, but he lost a lot of energy."

Darling was replaced by Cyrus Christie, whose foul on Tom Barkhuizen saw Derby captain Nathaniel Mendez-Laing make it 2-1 from the penalty spot.

But Swansea held on for their third away victory of the season after early goals from Zan Vipotnik and Ronald.

The win was a welcome response after painful late defeats to Leeds United and Burnley, and lifts Swansea to 11th in the table.