Swansea manager Garry Monk hailed the impact of midfielder Jonjo Shelvey as the Welsh club tightened their grip on a top-eight Barclays Premier League finish.
Shelvey claimed two assists as Swansea beat Stoke 2-0 at home on Saturday, his cross setting up Jefferson Montero's diving 76th-minute header before his stoppage time pull-back allowed substitute Ki Sung-yueng to settle the contest.
The 23-year-old England midfielder has been in fine form in recent weeks and it represents a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for a player who Monk described in December as being "lazy" and had to "wise up".
"I thought Jonjo was excellent," Monk said. "Last week at Newcastle he was our best midfielder in terms of how he managed the game.
"He managed the game for us last week and again in the second half here.
"I felt him and Federico (Fernandez) were again excellent the whole game and I said at half-time everyone needed to step up to the level they were showing.
"I think they all did that. The players reacted to that very well and a goal would have capped off a fine performance from Jonjo."
Shelvey has actually played a deeper role in the last two games with Monk switching from the midfield diamond he introduced at the end of February to the more familiar 4-2-3-1 formation with Montero and Nathan Dyer providing pace on the flanks.
And Ecuador winger Montero was rewarded for another energetic display with his first goal in English football since his £4million summer switch from Mexican club Monarcas Morelia last summer.
"Jefferson had a little injury not long ago, he's come back and you could see he was sharper this week," Monk said.
"I thought him and Nathan on the wings were a real threat and a great outlet for us in that second half."
Stoke had started the day one place behind Swansea in ninth and three points adrift of Monk's men.
But West Ham's victory dropped them to 10th and Stoke manager Mark Hughes now believes it will be difficult for them to catch Swansea with only three games of the season remaining.
"Eighth place might be a little bit beyond us now I would suggest," Hughes told stokecityfc.com.
"I felt if we could have got something out of the game, including a draw, then it would have been a good result for us.
"I say that because we felt Swansea had a difficult run of games coming up compared to ourselves who feel like the final three games of the season are winnable.
"It wasn't to be for us unfortunately and it may be a big ask, but we will keep concentrating on ourselves and fight until the very end."
Source: PA
