Swansea City 2-1 Preston North End: Jamie Paterson brace hands hosts precious three points

Swansea City dramatically ended their alarming home record in the Championship as Jamie Paterson's double handed them victory over Preston North End.

Paterson gave the hosts the lead midway through the second half, before Liam Millar levelled with a cool finish just seven minutes later.

A largely drab contest appeared to be heading towards a stalemate, before Paterson popped up deep into stoppage time to slot home his second of the night, and halt a sorry winless run of seven league games at home.

The result pushes the Swans up one place to 15th in the table, and also gives them an eight-point cushion above the relegation zone.

This wasn't by any means a polished performance. Indeed, one could argue Swansea didn't really deserve to claim this victory.

It may yet be a result that is proven to paper over a few cracks. But it does at least give Swansea's fans, who voiced their anger at the American owners for much of the evening, something to cheer about after another chaotic week in SA1.

After missing out on top target Chris Davies, the Jack Army have been drip-fed several names to digest over the last few days in terms of the ongoing manager search, the most recent being Stade de Reims coach Will Still.

However, Sheehan remains the man holding the fort, until Boxing Day at least, where a festive reunion with former Swans boss Russell Martin awaits.

Sheehan's playing it cool, of course. But, reading between the lines of his public comments, and to loosely quote one of his predecessors, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude he would surely quite fancy the job full-time.

This perhaps wasn't the most compelling case for him to be handed the keys, mind.

The standard of the performance against Middlesbrough, arguably