Luke Williams urged his Swansea players to show the same intensity and aggression they displayed in their 3-0 win over Stoke across their final four games of the Championship season.

The Swans were largely dominant against the Potters and went ahead through Liam Cullen’s seventh goal of the campaign on 19 minutes.

Matt Grimes bagged Swansea’s second from the penalty spot in the 53rd minute after Luke McNally tripped Ollie Cooper.

Josh Key completed a fine win for the hosts in south Wales by rifling into the roof of the net after slick play from Jamal Lowe on the left wing in the 73rd minute.

And Williams has called on his players to end what has been a frustrating campaign in style by replicating their efforts from their emphatic win over Steven Schumacher’s men.

“When we sit and review the (previous three) games, without the emotion on the day, we’re controlling the game in the last three games we played,” explained Williams.

“We get there and we fizzle out a little bit. We gave not too much to the opposition but then something was missing.

“We’re getting there and not quite scoring, we’re keeping the opposition out and they get a chance and score from nothing, so there was something missing.

“But tonight we put the intensity and aggression, all of that lovely stuff, we put back in and got a really great result.

“We have to finish off now, the bare minimum, we have to play with that type of intensity and connection. I want us to continue like that.”

Victory lifted Swansea seven points clear of the relegation zone while Stoke remain only three points above the bottom three.

And Schumacher conceded that his side – whose three-game unbeaten run came to an end in south Wales – were second best against Swansea.

“I felt we got beat by the better team on the night, Swansea in all departments were better than us,” he said.

“They won all of the battles, the 50:50s and they also passed the ball better and were brighter from set-piece moments.

“It was a poor performance from us and it’s one that we weren’t expecting because we’ve been playing really well.

“We just fell a bit low tonight and we got punished.

“That’s the Championship for you, if you’re not at it 100 per cent you can get turned over.”

The Stoke boss was left unimpressed with referee Keith Stroud’s decision to rule out Niall Ennis’ first-half goal and the referee’s call to award Swansea a spot-kick.

“There’s also a few key decisions that’s gone against us,” added Schumacher.

“In any game in the Championship you need those big decisions to go for you, tonight unfortunately they didn’t go our way.

“I won’t use that as an excuse because the overall performance wasn’t good enough and they (Swansea) were better anyway.”

Swansea eased any lingering relegation concerns by beating Stoke 3-0 to leave the Potters hovering perilously above the Championship drop zone.

Liam Cullen poked Jamie Paterson’s cross beyond Daniel Iversen to put Swansea ahead in the 19th minute before Matt Grimes doubled the hosts’ lead after 53 minutes with a penalty after Luke McNally tripped Ollie Cooper.

Josh Key capped off a fine victory for Luke Williams’ men with his second goal of the campaign after 73 minutes as Swansea claimed a first win in four, ending Stoke’s three-game unbeaten run and leaving them three points above the bottom three.

The Swans started on the front foot as former Stoke defender Josh Tymon teed up Jay Fulton who drilled well wide.

The hosts should have gone ahead in the 13th minute as Paterson left Ki-Jana Hoever spinning before picking out Fulton who could only rifle against the post from 10 yards.

But Swansea did take the lead soon after following a quickly taken free-kick.

Captain Grimes fed Paterson who had acres of space to cross to Cullen who poked home his seventh of the season from close range.

Cullen had a chance to double his side’s lead moments later when Grimes intercepted Michael Rose’s wayward clearance, although the Welshman could only volley over from the edge of the 18-yard box.

Stoke struggled to threaten in the torrid south Wales rain, with Wouter Burger heading wide from Million Manhoef’s corner just before the half-hour mark.

The Potters thought they had equalised in bizarre fashion just seconds later though when Rose chipped into the Swansea box.

Goalkeeper Carl Rushworth gathered the ball before losing control after an unintentional collision with Niall Ennis who duly poked into the net, although the goal was swiftly disallowed by referee Keith Stroud.

After a slow start, Steven Schumacher’s men found a foothold in the contest, with Manhoef flashing an effort wide.

And they spurned a fine chance to level proceedings in the dying seconds of the first half when Ennis played Manhoef through on goal, although Harry Darling recovered to force the Dutchman to fire wide from an acute angle.

They were ruthlessly punished for not taking their chances as Swansea doubled their lead with a penalty after the break.

McNally tripped Cooper on the edge of the area, and Grimes stepped up to rifle into the roof of the net from the spot.

Cullen almost got his second of the night from a well-worked corner routine minutes later, although his deflected effort trickled inches wide.

But Swansea got their third late on as Jamal Lowe danced up the left wing, teeing up Key whose first touch took him beyond Rose before unleashing a fierce effort into the net.

Watford manager Valerien Ismael refused to criticise goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann and defender Ryan Andrews for the clanger that left Watford having to come back from behind to secure a 1-1 draw at home to Swansea.

Ismael opted to drop previous first choice Ben Hamer and restore Bachmann to the starting line-up for the first time in the league since November 28.

But the Austrian was the key man in an 18th-minute mix-up that gifted the visitors the lead.

Andrews stopped Przemyslaw Placheta from reaching a long ball into the inside left channel from Matt Grimes by heading the ball back towards his goalkeeper.

But Bachmann had come rushing off his line without the right-back realising – and both were left watching in horror as the ball bounced into an empty net.

Ismael said: “It was a lack of communication. It has happened – unfortunately. There is no antidote against making mistakes in football.

“At half-time we had to clear the air and then we spoke positively. At the minute this is really tough – it is a challenge – but we cannot drop mentally.

“We came back into the game so it is step after step. Just at the minute we need to get all the positives that we can get – and I think we will become stronger after this period.”

Bachmann made two good saves after that however – first to deny Ronald on the half-hour mark after the Brazilian had caught Jamal Lewis in possession and then to stop a close-range header by Ben Cabango near the end of the first half.

Ismael added: “When you are in difficult situations you have to make changes so we changed players, in the first half the way to play and a lot of things on the training ground, including the schedule just to make sure the players were aware about the situation.

“Every player is involved and for me the keeper position is like an outfield player – it should be possible to change the keeper just to keep everyone involved.”

Watford levelled in the 57th minute from a corner that was swung into the box by Giorgi Chakvetadze, who had replaced Ken Sema just before the break.

Wesley Hoedt flicked it on at near post with centre-back Porteous appearing to divert it over the line from close range.

Watford dropped to 13th spot – two places above Swansea, whose manager Luke Williams has seen his side pick up seven points from the last three games to edge away from the drop zone.

He said: “I felt at half time we could have been in front by another goal but Watford were really aggressive in the second half and we deserved a point each.

“We were value for a goal even though it was fortunate in the way it came about.

“We are feeling in a good place and in all three games we performed to a pretty good level but there is no doubt that we have a long way to go to being the best team we can be.

“We have been 2-0 up, 2-0 up and 1-0 up at half-time so we have to make better performances in the second 45 minutes. This is an obvious one.

“In the second half we have to either maintain our level or find a way to control the game better – that is what we have to learn.

“Overall we have been competitive outside the really top sides in the division.”

Swansea boss Michael Duff hailed his side’s 3-0 Championship win over Millwall as the best of his tenure as they secured a commanding victory at the Den.

Jamaican International Jamal Lowe opened the scoring with a penalty before goals from Matt Grimes and Mykola Kukharevych sealed the triumph, Duff’s third in charge since taking over in June.

The visitors won their second Championship game in a row having taken only two points from a possible 21 from their previous seven matches.

“It’s probably the best result of my Swansea tenure so far,” Duff said. “3-0 away from home at a tough place to come.

“I thought we saw a bit more of what we wanted to look like. It was some really good football. The reaction’s been good ever since the Cardiff game, where we let everyone down.

“We probably should have had three clean sheets and nine points since then. The players have stuck together through all of it.”

Swansea sparked to life in the 23rd minute when Lowe converted a penalty, awarded after Jerry Yates’ shirt was pulled by Jake Cooper in the box.

Lowe produced a stuttering run-up before sending Bartosz Bialkowski the wrong way to end the hosts’ hopes of a third-straight clean sheet and to notch his second goal in as many games.

Duff added: “The first goal was 40-plus passes going into the build-up to the penalty, which I think should have been a red card as well.

“I knew they would have a reaction. We had to change shape a couple of times, but we survived it. You’re not going to dominate a game for 90 minutes, not in the Championship – very rarely anyway.

“It’s still a long, long way from where we want to get it to.”

Grimes moved Swansea further ahead after 57 minutes, as some neat interplay offered an inviting opening for the skipper and his 20-yard strike squeezed under Bialkowski.

The Lions were unable to take their chances at 2-0 down with Carl Rushworth turning a long-distance strike from Ryan Leonard over the crossbar before the goalkeeper saved Kevin Nisbet’s point-blank effort with his face.

Kukharevych then made certain of the three points for the Swans with an 80th-minute header for a first away victory since April.

Millwall manager Gary Rowett took a different view of his side’s reaction to conceding, believing they showed frustration rather than fight.

He said: “Goals change moods, goals change feelings in stadiums and players’ confidence levels. It shouldn’t do, but that’s the way the game is.

“Sometimes at 0-0 you have to ride those little moments and the first goal was a really poor penalty to give away from where the ball was.

“We got into some decent positions without having a clinical edge. That was the difference.

“I didn’t like our reaction from 2-0 down. I think we have a habit of conceding goals and showing our frustration rather than fighting until the last second.

“Again we had some big moments, but without that goal it gives you nothing to lift the mood and atmosphere.

“It’s disappointing. The third goal summed it up, we gave it away, crossed it to a lad unmarked to head it in. It was certainly three poor goals from us to concede today.”