MANCHESTER, England -- Swansea virtually secured Premier League survival and West Bromwich Albion moved closer to safety on Saturday. Jonjo Shelvey scored an eye-catching volley in a 4-1 victory for 12th-place Swansea over Aston Villa, which is just four points and two places from the drop zone. Saido Berahino gave West Brom a 1-0 victory over West Ham that took the team five points clear of danger. But Fulham threw away a two-goal lead at home to Hull to draw 2-2 and remain in the drop zone. At the top of the standings, Evertons hopes of qualifying for the Champions League were hit by a 2-0 loss at Southampton which kept the visitors in fifth place. Tottenham closed the gap on Everton to three points after Danny Rose clinched a 1-0 win at Stoke, meaning that Manchester United could even miss out on Europa League qualification. After a sleepless night before his managerial debut, Ryan Giggs saw his Manchester United team reawaken Old Trafford with a comfortable victory over Norwich on Saturday to end a tumultuous week that started with David Moyes dismissal. United asserted itself over Norwich after a tedious start, with Wayne Rooney scoring twice -- the first from the penalty spot -- and Juan Mata also netting a brace after coming off the bench to complete a 4-0 win in the English Premier League. "I should retire now, a 100 per cent record," Giggs quipped. The 40-year-old midfielder, who dropped himself from the match-day squad, is likely to have just three more games as player-manager, with United looking to appoint a more experienced successor to Moyes. "The reception was great. Ive walked out of the tunnel so many times in big games. Thats the best feeling Ive had, I felt so proud," Giggs said. "Did I sleep last night? No." It was a day all about restoring pride after Moyes inherited a team that won the league by 11 points under Alex Ferguson last May and took it down to seventh in the standings. But while United is frustrated to be out of the four Champions League places, Norwichs position is far more precarious -- fighting against relegation. A seventh straight loss left the team just a point and a place above the relegation zone. Although the revenue streams could be hit, a season out of Europe could help the rebuilding process which it seems Giggs wont be overseeing as manager, however much he impresses during his four-game stint as interim manager. "Weve had a tough week and theres been a lot of negativity towards us as a team," Rooney said. "We were hurt by that and we wanted to put that right. Its important for us to end the season well." The breakthrough against Norwich came after Steven Whittaker brought down Danny Welbeck, and Welbeck scored from the penalty spot in the 41st. The striker was on target again inside three minutes of the second half, drifting in from the left unchallenged before unleashing a shot into the bottom corner of the net. United was cruising, and the magnitude of the victory was even more convincing after Mata made an immediate impact after coming off the bench on the hour. The Spain midfielder scored inside three minutes, after meeting a cross from Phil Jones. Mata nodded another over the line in the 73rd after being set up by Antonio Valencia. "Im interim manager but Im also one of their team-mates, so it was tough to leave them out, but youve seen the response of Juan," Giggs said. "Thats a true professional, to not moan and not sulk and come on and perform like he did." Mel Hutchins Jersey . The visitors missed a host of good chances to win the game, and were left to rue substitute Ivo Ilicevics strike against the crossbar in the 86th minute, when he only had the goalkeeper to beat. Chuck Share Jersey .C. - NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick headlines this years electees into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. https://www.cheaphawks.com/434r-dikembe-mutombo-jersey-hawks.html . -- Canadian ski cross star Marielle Thompson accomplished two goals in one race Saturday. Spud Webb Jersey . And like the near entirety of last season, Jonathan Bernier and Torontos goaltending tandem is up to the task. Al Horford Jersey . Paul, MN (SportsNetwork.TORONTO -- Playing the second half of back-to-back games, the Toronto Maple Leafs refused to use fatigue as an excuse. Coach Randy Carlyle noticed his players were tired and how much that played a role in a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night at Air Canada Centre. But inside the locker room the talk was much more about a lack of execution. "Theres never an excuse: Injuries, tired, its all B.S.," goaltender James Reimer said. "Those are all excuses. Theyre useless." Winger Mason Raymond, who scored Torontos only goal, scoffed that he and his teammates "simply got embarrassed." They committed turnovers that led to all three Panthers goals and were never really able to keep up. "I echo those remarks as something that we cannot be proud of our performance tonight," Carlyle said after the Leafs (17-16-3) lost for the fifth time in their past six games. Tomas Fleischmann, Sean Bergenheim and Brad Boyes scored for the Panthers (13-17-5), who won their fourth straight and sixth in their past seven games. With the victory, Florida crept to within six points of Toronto for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. "Were looking for progress," coach Peter Horacek said. "Were looking for consistency in our play." The Panthers certainly showed more consistency Tuesday than the Leafs, who couldnt get much of an attack going until the third period when Raymonds goal broke up Scott Clemmensens shutout and cut the deficit to two goals. Before that, Carlyle bemoaned his team being on the wrong end of far too many 50/50 puck battles. It didnt matter that the Panthers have the lowest payroll in the NHL because they didnt look like it. Torontos lacklustre play helped. "We just didnt play well enough. Thats the bottom line," Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf said. "We take pride in being a team that doesnt get outworked. Tonight we were outworked." Couple that with mistakes at inopportune times and the result was the Leafs 12th loss in 18 games at Air Canada Centre this season. Each of Floridas goals came as a result of a noticeable turnover. Centre Nazem Kadri was the first Leafs player to make a costly error, before some of the 19,076 fans even settled into their seats. Kadri lost the puck at the Panthers blue-line, and seconds later Fleischmann had a jump on Carl Gunnarsson and beat Reimer to make it 1-0 just 3:29 in. Sloppy play continued, but it didnt hurt the Leafs again until a disastrous defensive-zone shift in the second. Defenceman Jake Gardiner put the puck right on Bergenheims stick, but Reimer made a stop to keep the threat at bay. When the Leafs couldnt clear it, Bergenheim got it back in front and scored 5:54 into the second. "We had clear-cut possession of the puck, won a faceoff, it goes back to (Gardiner), they end up with a breakaway out of it," Carlylle said.dddddddddddd "Its pretty hard to defend a player in that position, and I told him so. Youve got to expect to have a higher level of execution than that in that situation." Boos predictably followed, and then continued when Phaneufs turnover directly contributed to the Panthers third goal of the game. Boyes poked the puck away from Phaneuf and scored seconds later on his own rebound thanks to some help from Bergenheim in front. "I made some mistakes tonight that are unacceptable," Phaneuf said. "Take responsibility for it." It couldve been even uglier had the Panthers converted on a short-handed odd-man rush in the third period. Shawn Matthias missed a wide-open net, and Toronto didnt have to stare down a four-goal deficit. The Leafs cut it to 3-1 not long after on their most opportunistic play of the night. Centre Peter Holland, filling in amid injuries to Dave Bolland and Tyler Bozak, held onto the puck long enough to get some traffic in front, and Raymond tipped the puck past Clemmensen 3:43 into the third. "I thought we got a little life after that," Raymond said. "We played some better hockey then." Aided by that third-period onslaught, Toronto outshot Florida 29-23, but Carlyle didnt like the lack of second opportunities. "I classified our game as we tried to plan shinny against an NHL hockey club tonight," he said. Clemmensen, who made 28 saves for the victory, was hardly stressed for most of the game. The veteran netminder acknowledged, as did Horachek and other Panthers players, that the Leafs were tired. But it was incumbent on the visitors to take advantage of that. "We were hoping to have a little bit more energy than they had," Clemmensen said. "Fortunately for us, we kept them off the board until the third period. That, in turn, kept the crowd out of it. That was big." This was their third victory in the past two weeks against a team being featured on HBOs "24/7" program. Florida beat the Detroit Red Wings on Dec. 7 and Dec. 10. As for the Leafs, the frustrating is growing bigger amid losses. And with the excuses thrown out, answers are also lacking. "Everyone is trying to turn it around," centre Jay McClement said. "It seems like we need all of us to step up and take the reins and change things. But it seems like were waiting too long to do that." NOTES -- Centre Trevor Smith broke a bone in his right hand when blocking a shot from the Panthers Shawn Matthias in the third period, Carlyle said. Smith has four goals and five assists in 24 games this season. ... Last years Calder Trophy winner, Jonathan Huberdeau, missed his second straight game with a foot injury. Horachek said the Saint-Jerome, Que., native could have played and is hopefully on target to be in the lineup Thursday when Florida visits the Ottawa Senators. ' ' '