Swansea City turned around what looked like another loss as West Bromwich Albion fought back from one down to lead this game by the odd goal in three. Call it what you like, madness or inspirational but Russell Martin’s call to leave on Kyle Naughton and bring on more attacking options won the swans the three points. And bravery is what Russell Martin wants to see in his team, and bravery is what he displayed today.
It was a relaxed and confident start by the swans who could have easily gone ahead in the first seconds of the game. Steve Bruce the baggies manager looked nervous on the sidelines as Swansea dominated possession and attacking space. A few half chances were not taken with David Button in the West Brom goal the busiest early on. His save from a stinging volley from Matt Sorinola went out for a corner on six minutes. From that corner the floated cross beat everyone except the smallest man in the penalty area who chested in the first Swansea goal. Matt Sorinola was the man and his recent displays are beginning to give fans an insight as to his ability.
It shouldn’t be expected that the swans will give away possession in very dangerous areas, but it happened twice in the half, fortunately the baggies finishing and decision making was poor. That surely wasn’t going to continue ? Swans keeper Steven Benda did have a few saves to make but really the flat home atmosphere in the ground despite a full end of swans fans wasn’t helping the baggies. The home crowd began to get impatient as the ball was played around by the visitors and really with such a slow pace to the game and Swansea’s dominance the away side should have pushed for more. It was walking pace at times, and with a totally unconvincing home side against them when the pace did increase, first Joel Piroe then Luke Cundle failed to convert.
That was frustrating.
It was between the twenty fifth and thirty fifth minutes of the first half that West Brom threatened the most, and it was via loose passes or mistakes in possession that gave the home side some hope. Benda did make a few saves, first from Jed Wallace then from Thomas-Asante and the ridiculous time wasting which earned Benda a yellow card came back to haunt the swans early on in the second half.
That was summed up just a few minutes after the restart as the baggies with more pace and determination drew level through Livermore. The swans failed to clear their defences and Livermore latched on to a loose ball and equalised for his side. That piece of defending really did open up those old questions once more regards getting rid of the ball. The second half created more opportunities for both sides with West Brom looking the more dangerous after they scored. It wasn’t until the fiftieth minute that the swans gained momentum and created free kick opportunities. None came to fruition.
With the scores level, the baggies pressed more and were rewarded as Diangana found himself in acres of space to put the home side 2-1 up. Again that defending issue raised its ugly head. All of a sudden the hard work from the first half was undone. The walking pace football from the first forty five had enabled the baggies to have a surge of second half confidence. Every team knows of Swansea’s weaknesses and once again they were being exposed. Michael Obafemi came on for Luke Cundle then Olivier Ntcham for Jay Fulton but ball retention and the fact there was more pressure on the swans in possession meant a scrappy first twenty five minutes.
The baggies just looked better, they had more industry and ability to see what they certainly couldn’t see in the first half. Swansea were quite simply off the pace and everything seemed to be unravelling. Then out of the blue substitute Olivier Ntcham cagily edged forwards and struck a shot which went in to the net off the West Brom post. It’s about time we saw that ability after let’s say a particularly poor season to date for Ntcham. That gave the game twenty minutes to play out and play out it did.
It caught fire.
West Brom lose at home and surely Steve Bruce is close to being fired ?
Both sides went looking for the win with Sorinola replaced by Joel Latibeaudiere and Oli Cooper making way for Amstrong Oko-Flex. Oddly with Kyle Naughton nursing a shoulder injury Russell Martin chose to leave him on the pitch and keep his fingers crossed the attacking plan would work. The pace the swans now had with Obafemi and Oko-Flex was clearly in the plan to exploit the baggies defence.
On eighty minutes a bizarre refereeing decision saw the baggies awarded a penalty. This came from from a quick free kick which once again exposed the swans defence and its wide open spaces. The penalty wasn’t anything other than dubious and Steven Benda dancing on his line dived to his left to save from substitute Grant. It was a superb save which denied West Brom an undeserved third goal.
From there on in the game did feel like it had a winning goal in it. Ntcham burst forwards but blasted his shot over the bar. Again though the open spaces at the back, especially on Swansea’s right flank were obvious. Oddly the home supporters started to drift away on eighty five minutes, the contest level and still a long way to go. If the swans were content with the point it wasn’t showing as the players hurriedly took free kicks and battled for possession. Latibeaudiere a willing cog and back from injury was hard and relentless in his running. Unfortunately Obafemi and Oko-Flex both seemed on the fringes of a good idea to win the game.
Then boom !
Then all of a sudden it all seemed like a great idea. An excellent passing move down the baggies right saw an Ntcham cross for Obafemi to twist away and fire home Swansea’s third goal. What better way for the young man to say ‘I’m back amd I mean business’ Now the home fans were more than drifting away. Possibly against all our expectations we saw the Michael Obafemi we all want to see, and also a Swansea defence which was frail at times today hang on despite a baggies chance late on. That’s two wins on the bounce as Swansea City go to Watford on Wednesday night full of hope and in tenth place in the league.
West Brom: Button; Furlong, O'Shea, Townsend, Pieters; Livermore (C) (Yokuslu 75), Swift (Grant 75), Rogic (Molumby 57), Wallace, Diangana; Thomas-Asante.
Subs not used: Palmer, Kelly, Reach, Phillips.
Goals: Livermore 48, Diangana 65
Yellow cards: Furlong 43, Pieters 47, Rogic 53
Swansea City: Benda; Wood, Naughton, Cabango; Sorinola (Latibeaudiere 74), Fulton (Ntcham 66), Grimes (C), Manning; Cundle (Obafemi 62), Cooper (Oko-Flex 74); Piroe.
Subs not used: Fisher, Darling, Stevens.
Goals: Sorinola 6, Ntcham 71, Obafemi 88
Yellow cards: Manning 41
Referee: Graham Scott 4/10 : Poor and could have cost the swans with that penalty nonsense