By Gareth Vincent
South Wales Evening Post

Swansea City have been boosted by news that Mark Gower should be fit to face Reading after he limped out of the Carling Cup derby triumph over Cardiff City.

The winger hobbled off midway through the second half on Tuesday night complaining of groin and shin injuries.

But Gower is due back in full training tomorrow and should be available for Saturday's visit to the Madejski Stadium.

Swansea are less confident, though, that Darren Pratley will be ready to face the Royals because of an ankle ligament problem which denied him the chance to face Cardiff.

And the club were today waiting for the results of a scan on Marcos Painter after an ankle injury forced him out of Tuesday's Carling Cup win.

"We will give Mark another day to settle down but we're hopeful he will be fit for the weekend," said Swansea physio Richie Evans. "Darren has a mild ankle-ligament sprain which he suffered against Burnley and we'll leave it as late as possible to see if he is okay.

"And with Marcos we're waiting for an MRI scan, but we're optimistic that he will be okay."

Roberto Martinez may have a job refocusing his team on their Championship campaign after their thrilling derby success.

Swansea are through to the League Cup fourth round for only the third time in the club's history — they have never been further — and could be paired with one of the Premier League's big guns in Saturday's draw.

And after Cardiff's visit made for arguably the best occasion the Liberty has seen, Garry Monk has fingers crossed for another home tie.

"We are all hopeful of getting one of the big boys now," said the Swansea skipper.

"I was thinking before that as players we would like to go away to one of the big stadiums but, with an atmosphere like we had for Cardiff, it's great to be at home..

"We knew our fans would be right up for it on Tuesday, and making that kind of noise they are like a 12th man for us.

"They drowned Cardiff out and once we got the goal it was an excellent feeling.

"All the boys celebrated together and I got a tingle down the back of my neck when I looked up and saw everyone in the ground going a little bit mental."

Monk saluted his team-mates for keeping their discipline in the heat of a thrilling game and hailed the football they played as up there with the best they have ever produced.

"Hopefully this is a platform for us to really push on," the centre-back added.

"We were saying in the dressing room that in a way it's a shame Cardiff wasn't a league game because we'd have another three points on the board now.

"But hopefully we can use the win as a springboard for the three very tough games we have coming up."

After Reading, who are among the favourites for promotion this season, Swansea go to in-form Preston on Tuesday before hosting early pacesetters Wolves in nine days' time.