Vitor Matos hopes Zan Vipotnik’s goal in Swansea City’s defeat at Southampton will spark a return to the form which earned him last season’s Championship golden boot.

Swansea were knocked off top spot in the Championship on Tuesday as they fell to their first league defeat of 2026-27 at St Mary’s.

Matos accepted that Southampton were worthy winners, with Finn Azaz and Cyle Larin scoring before the break and Leo Scienza sealing a 3-1 triumph late on after Vipotnik had pulled one goal back from the penalty spot.

Vipotnik’s goal was his first of the campaign, with the Slovenia international struggling to make an impression following a summer of speculation over his future.

Matos has fingers crossed that though it came in defeat, Vipotnik’s strike against Saints could be a turning point in his season.

“Now he has a goal, for sure he will be much more calm – a striker is never calm when there are no goals,” said the Swansea boss.

“That will be nice for him. [From] now on we want him together with us with the proper desire and the collectiveness that he gave us last season.

“I think that is the most important thing for me, that is most important for the team, because we all know that he will end up scoring.”

Vipotnik scored 23 league goals last term, a haul which prompted Hull City to offer about £10m for the 24-year-old last month.

The Tigers’ bid was dismissed, with Swansea believed to be looking for closer to £20m for a player they signed on a free after the financial collapse of Bordeaux.

With most transfer markets now closed until mid-season, Vipotnik seems destined to remain at Swansea – where he will compete with Adam Idah and Ross Stewart for game-time – until January at least.

When asked whether Vipotnik’s Southampton penalty could be the start of a goalscoring run, Matos said: “More important is that he repeats the performance to help the team and I think that’s what we want.”

Swansea will aim to respond to deserved defeat at Southampton when they take on Burnley this Saturday.

“We need to understand what was wrong [at Southampton], what was not good, what didn’t allow us to be closer to what we want to be, and move on,” Matos said.

“The first goal came from a throw-in, then the second goal we allow them to rotate from one side to the other then through the centre.

“We can do better, we will do better.”