Swansea manager Steve Cooper praises 'important' Andre Ayew's strong mentality

Swansea City manager Steve Cooper has lauded forward Andre Ayew for his strong mentality after shrugging off a missed penalty to snatch the winner against Brentford in the first leg of promotion play-offs at the Liberty Park.

Ayew who netted his 18th goal of the season, earlier missed a penalty after his effort from 12 yards was strongly saved by Brentford goalie David Raya.

The Ghana captain's goal sends Swansea into Wednesday's second leg with the advantage, and manager Steve Cooper is full of praise for the vice captain.

“Andre has missed a penalty, but brushed it off and raised his game even more, and it came off with the goal,” said Cooper after the game.

"His mentality is of the highest order, to brush off the disappointing return from a penalty where you fancied him.

“To have such an impact and score the goal tells you everything about the mentality he has.

“If anything, the miss affected him in a positive way.

“He is really important for us, and what is more impressive with his goalscoring record is that for a lot of the season he has played out wide, and not through the middle.

“Before Rhian came here, he was our main hope for being a goalscorer, and he has lived up to the level of player we know he is.”