Swansea City headlines as Gareth Bale wants to 'hammer' ex-Swan and cult hero in dugout for South Wales derby

Your Swansea City headlines for Friday, April 1.

Gareth Bale has urged Steve Morison's Cardiff City side to beat Swansea City so he can wind-up former Swan Connor Roberts.

Bale was training with his country alongside Morison's men at the Vale Resort during the international break as Wales played Austria and Czech Republic in Cardiff. Bluebirds boss Morison has revealed Cardiff-born star Bale has been rooting for his hometown club ahead of this weekend's South Wales derby.

"I saw him every day he was here in Wales camp, I said 'hello' to him every day, all he said to me was ‘Make sure you beat Swansea!’, that's the only comment he made to me. Outside of that there’s been no conversation about that. I'm not someone who is going to get caught up in something that is – at the minute – a fantasy." You can read the full story here.

Swansea City's Russell Martin just got a text message from Connor Roberts as he bites back at Gareth Bale

Morison added: "The actual conversation was, 'You're doing all right, aren't you?', 'Yeah, I'm doing all right,' then he said, 'Make sure you beat them, I want to hammer Connor!"

Roberts left Swansea for Burnley in the most recent summer transfer window but continues to show his support for the club he joined as a schoolboy. You can read more on that here.

And captain Matt Grimes has said the Swans will be fighting to give former team-mate Roberts something to cheer about.

"If he's [Morison] fighting for Gareth, we'll fight for Connor, so no problem there," said the captain.

Kris O'Leary will be in the Swansea dugout for the South Wales derby clash with Cardiff.

Goalkeeper coach Dean Thornton is required to serve a two-game stadium ban after being charged by the Football Association