Five months after a dismal defeat Swans have the last laugh
Five months on, Paulo Sousa's players remained on the turf long after the final whistle, savouring victory and looking ahead to many more.
This time it was Preston who were well beaten, and this time Swansea chests were puffed out.
Once more the focus is on getting out of the Championship, but now it is on sneaking into the Premier League rather than sliding into League One.
The tables have turned since that bleak defeat at Deepdale, and the table has turned too.
Only four teams were worse off than Swansea after Preston's 2-0 success in September, which left Sousa's men with just five points from their first six games of the campaign.
Today there are only four teams doing better. In 22 fixtures since the Preston beating — when Dorus de Vries, tellingly, was his team's best player — Swansea have banked an impressive 40 points.
There have been just two league defeats in that sequence, away at leaders Newcastle and at home to another of the automatic promotion contenders, Nottingham Forest.
It looks like Newcastle, West Brom and Forest will scrap it out for the top two spots in the Championship, with the rest competing for a play-off place.
And as the days start to get longer and the points become ever more precious, Swansea are in good shape.
"We are pleased to be where we are and we want to stay there," Sousa said in the wake of a triumph which cements his team's top-six spot.
"We want to keep on improving, but we have plenty of confidence in ourselves."
Belief is justified. Still Swansea lack firepower, and still there are some who question their chances of going the distance in the play-off chase.
But Swansea have come too far already for their progress to have been a fluke, and there is no doubt now that they have the quality to finish up ahead of some of the division's bigger spenders.
An extraordinary defensive record is the foundation for Swansea's success, with this weekend's shut-out making it 16 clean sheets this season for de Vries.
No second-tier side has more — Newcastle's record is the same — and with so few goals going at one end, Swansea do not need that many at the other.
Saturday saw something of an avalanche, as Swansea managed more than one goal on home soil for the first time since Cardiff City were beaten 3-2 way back in the first week of November.
It is safe to say the Liberty's nets are not going to wear out any time soon, but no-one will mind if Swansea can remain as resolute as they have been up until now.
In truth, mid-table Preston did not look too interested in examining Swansea's defences this weekend. Instead, Darren Ferguson set his team up to cancel out their hosts and return to Lancashire with a point.
The plan didn't work.
Swansea ripped into Preston almost from the outset and, impressively, never eased off.
"It was a complete performance," Sousa purred. Maybe we could have scored more goals, but we showed great organisation, great mobility, good understanding and good communication.
"There was a lot of aggression, and we had players looking to get into space and to create space.
"We want to keep going like this, because that will bring us more success.
"This was one of our best performances because we were consistent throughout the game.
"It won't be easy to repeat it because different opponents give you different challenges, but if we can stay like this we will be a stronger side than ever."
If they continue dominating games like this, the play-offs are a certainty.
Swansea bossed every aspect of a one-sided contest and might have secured a greater margin of victory.
Nathan Dyer, one of the many attacking players who had a field day, should have scored when through on the keeper but dragged wide and might also have had a penalty.
Joe Allen forced Andy Lonergan into a sprawling stop and David Cotterill smashed a long-ranger against the post.
By the time the woodwork rattled, the game was already won thanks to a pair of Cotterill set-pieces.
The first was a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area which the £600,000 man curled into the top corner for his first Swansea league goal.
The second was delivered from wide on the left for another Welsh international, Ashley Williams, to head across Lonergan and inside the far post.
"We have worked a lot on set-pieces because 35 per cent of goals come from them," Sousa said.
"When we have teams coming to the Liberty and dropping deep there are a lot of fouls, so it's important we improve our free-kicks. They can help us open games up."
With Ferrie Bodde still out, Cotterill looks like being a useful set-piece weapon in a team which is short on specialists.
"He kicks the ball well," Sousa pointed out.
He was not the only footballer kicking the ball well at the Liberty on Saturday. Swansea's rearguard had a fairly easy time of it, thanks largely to a midfield which took control of the contest.
Among them was Leon Britton, who remains a Swan for now and, according to his manager, was a player transformed against Preston thanks to the closure of the transfer window.
"Leon is happy," Sousa added. "He looked a completely different player after a great week.
"Everyone could see that after the window closed, and this is the person and the player I'm looking for.
"If he continues to play like that, it will be massive for us."
Britton, who has had yet another fine season, may be surprised to hear that his manager thinks he might have done more.
Whatever the midfielder's thoughts, Swansea are delighted that he is still around post-window and that he will be on board for a few more months at least.
The same goes for Darren Pratley and Angel Rangel, who was missing this weekend because of an ankle injury, and not because of his criticism of the chairman last week.
Rangel hit out because he wanted a chance in the Premier League.
If Swansea continue to play as they did against Preston, he might just get that opportunity in Wales.
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