Swansea City crashed out of the FA Cup after spurning the best chances of the game, especially in the second half and in injury time. A weakened side was fielded by Russell Martin in the first half with eighteen year old Cameron Congreve ( below ) making an impact.
Despite an Ollie Cooper equaliser in the second half literally seconds after coming on the pitch the swans huffed and puffed for most of the game. If the first half was a non event the second was more of a cup tie as the Swans made a decent fist of getting a tie against West Bromwich Albion in the fourth round.
A very healthy crowd of over ten thousand on a cold night endured the first half but will have enjoyed the Swans more adventurous play in the second. But it was Bristol City who won the tie as they defended resolutely and Sam Bell scored his first goal for the Robins. With the tie not being televised and Swans fans scraping around for some form of game information the crowd was swelled to double that was expected pre match.
The extra time substitutions of Joe Allen and Jay Fulton replacing Matt Grimes and Olivier Ntcham were positive enough and Ryan Manning coming on for the disappointing Matt Sorinola should have sealed this tie for the home side. A selection of missed chances in injury time by the swans ensured the glory fell to Sam Bell (below) who replaced Nhaki Wells in the second half.
All in all and once again we saw the Swans as the better side, but as ever without the ability to convert chances and bury a game they should have won. Thoughts now turn to the away game against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday in the championship, a game some would say is far more important for the club. The limited choices for Russell Martin were once again exposed as we reach fourteen days to go in the transfer window and no significant cash signings for over a year at the swansea.com stadium.
Swansea City: Fisher;5 Latibeaudiere, 5 Wood, 6 Cabango, 6 Naughton; 5 Congreve 6 (Cooper 73), 7 Grimes (C) 6 (Allen 91), 6 Sorinola 4 (Manning 73); 7 Ntcham 6 (Fulton 91) 5 , Cundle;4 Piroe 5 (Cullen 62). 5
Subs not used: Benda, Darling, Mcfayden, Cotterill.
Goal: Cooper 73
Yellow cards: 🟨 Wood 90+4, Cundle 94
Bristol City: O'Leary; Tanner, Vyner, Atkinson, Pring (Dasilva 89); Scott (Williams 58), Naismith (King 102), James (C) (Taylor-Clarke 102); Sykes, Wells (Bell 58), Semenyo.
Subs not used: Bentley, Kadji.
Goals: Sykes 63, Bell 112
Yellow cards: 🟨 Pring 75, Semenyo 120+2
Attendance: 10,030. 852 away.
Referee: Graham Scott 6/10 : Didn’t look for his own headlines on this occasion.