Bessone celebrates with Tom Butler after scoring the winner

Paulo Sousa praised defender Fede Bessone after the Argentine fired Swansea City to their highest league position for 26 years.

The Swans climbed up to third in the Championship on Friday evening following their 1-0 win over Derby at the Liberty Stadium.

And Sousa says that hard work Bessone has put in is starting to pay off as he claimed his first career goal.

"It was a fantastic goal with great quality," said the Swans boss.

"Fede is improving a lot. He keeps doing well, he's working hard, he wants to improve and is improving himself."

It has been an excellent couple of weeks for Bessone who struggled last season following his free transfer from Espanyol.

The 25-year-old, who holds an Italian passport, seems to have found his feet since Sousa took over from Roberto Martinez in the Swansea hot-seat this summer.

In the south Wales derby a fortnight ago, Bessone was handed a late start after captain Garry Monk injured a calf in the warm-up.

And he went on to supply the crosses for two of the goals as the Swans ran out 3-2 winners over arch-rivals Cardiff.

He kept his place in the starting line up for the visit of Nigel Clough's Derby and scored the only goal after the Swans dominated.

It was a goal that had quality all over it with substitute Joe Allen's great through-ball matched by a perfect run from Bessone and a finish to match.

"I'm happy about that but the most important thing is the team is playing well," said Bessone.

"I didn't know what to do [when I scored] because I never score, but I was excited and just ran a waited for my team mates."

While Swansea's stay in third place may be short-lived with a full Championship fixture-list on Saturday, Sousa is keen they keep up the momentum that has seen them go 11 games unbeaten.

"It's not easy to win these games when one team only defends," two-times Champions League winner Sousa added.

"There was good quality in our game and great attitude once more.

"We have a long way to go, but I think we are getting closer to the right match routine. We can be stronger and more competitive."

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