Hartson hails Swansea boss Sousa

Sousa succeeded Roberto Martinez at the Liberty Stadium in June

Former Wales striker John Hartson has praised Paulo Sousa for taking his hometown club Swansea City up to fourth in the Championship.

The Swans reached their highest league position for 26 years on Friday after beating Derby 1-0, before dropping a place after Saturday's games.

"They are having a great time of it," Hartson told BBC Sport Wales.

"I was down there on Friday to watch the Derby game and and they've been on a great run."

Sousa, 39, has overcome a difficult start in the Swansea hot seat since taking over from Roberto Martinez in the summer.

The Swans found themselves 20th in the Championship in early September struggling with injuries, suspensions and a lack of goals.

They were two places and three points above the relegation zone before starting an 11-match unbeaten run going into Saturday's match at leaders Newcastle.

During the run, they have beaten West Brom, who were top at the time, along with arch-rivals Cardiff and Queens Park Rangers who are both in the play-offs, and Sheffield United who have since slipped from the top-six.

Sousa, a double Champions League winner as a player, is in his second managerial job after being controversially sacked by QPR in April.

He had big shoes to fill in Martinez who as a rookie boss led Swansea to the League One title in 2008 in his first full season in charge - the first time they had climbed out of the bottom two divisions in 24 years.

606: DEBATE From about six games ago I've been feeling that we were fast becoming automatic promotion contenders and a win against Newcastle will have us up there as one of the favourites for promotion irishswan

Then last season, they secured an eighth-place finish in the Championship as the division's surprise package, missing out on a play-off place by six points.

The highest the Swans reached under Martinez was sixth in April, albeit for a 48-hour period.

Martinez left in the summer for Premier League side Wigan Athletic and Sousa became his replacement.

After his arrival, Sousa had to deal with a huge injury list and the loss of the club's two top scorers - Jason Scotland and Jordi Gomez to Wigan, who scored 38 goals between them last season.

"There were a few questions asked about Paulo Sousa when he took the job," said 52-cap Hartson, whose clubs included Arsenal, West Ham and Celtic in a 15-year playing career.

"But he was brave - very, very brave to take the job on after Roberto Martinez as it was always going to be a difficult job for anybody after Roberto did so well there winning the League One championship and finishing eighth in the two seasons.

"But it is a great and they're on a great run at the moment even though they are not playing fantastic football that they maybe were under Roberto.

"I don't think the fans are that bothered if they're playing well as it is a winning business they're in."