It was a hard fought and well planned win for the Swans at Sunderland this afternoon. Gaining their third win in a row and now very, very safe from relegation. The Swans were organised and well drilled for this game, and despite a nervy last ten minutes the victory was deserved.
The game started well for the Swans, on one minute a cross in from the visitors on the left evaded Josh Key, Franco was slow to take advantage, the ball ending up with Lewis O’Brien who shot into the Black Cats keepers hands. There was a good tempo to the game which referee Hallam had to be aware of. Especially with early theatrics after Liam Cullen was adjudged to have fouled his opponent. Jay Fulton was in for Joe Allen, and the other change today was Cullen for Vipotnik. Sunderland were ruled offside on four minutes, in fact well offside. That would happen often. Straight after that Cullen was an inch short, Ronald fired across the six yard line. Sliding in it looked a goal. It was indeed action packed.
Ronald was busy, he had two markers for this early period.
A good Josh Key cross was just missed by the leaping Eom on eight minutes. That led to a free kick in a very dangerous area. Eom and Josh Tymon stood over the ball. The cross was pointless as a Swans player was ruled offside. Franco and O’Brien were operating further forwards and it was keeping Sunderland quiet. In fact all I could hear from my position was the decent number of travelling Swans fans. On twelve minutes Ronald provided a teasing cross which O’Brien got his head to but the header wasn’t as effective as the goal he scored in midweek against Plymouth. The Swans first corner of the game came on thirteen minutes but it was wasted after a short corner went high and wide.
It was good football from the Swans though.
Testament to O’Briens commitment today was his chasing down, the home supoort very getting anxious and restless. They hadn’t threatened the Swans at all. We were a third of the way through the half. Then some wonderful work by O’Brien put him in on goal, he blasted wide. The Swans were racking up the half chances. And remained the dominant side. On twenty minutes Franco took a hit on his conk, much to the frustration of the majority of the ground. He does receive the odd blow to that area, but he recovered. Sunderland then put on some pressure. A throw in leading to a goal kick. Unfortunately from that move Tymon took a real blow to his shoulder. It looked bad. Tymon though looked okay after a couple of minutes treatment, but he wasn’t comfortable you could see that.
The Swans looked very organised when the opposition were in possession, and Sunderland returned to fouling when O’Brien was again brought down. Key though made a hash of a challenge on twenty seven minutes, that led to Sunderland getting a shot in on goal, and following that more problems with a goal mouth scramble which led to some nervy moments at the back. The Swans survived that but the Black Cats were now in the game. Referee Hallam stopped the game with the home side on the attack, O’Brien for some reason was booked, there was no clue why. Then Chris Mepham went into the book which gave the impression there was a bit of a dust up off the ball. The Swans press though was keen and Sunderland were finding it very hard to get any joy.
The pace was still high from both sides.
Wilson Isidor was caught offside as we entered the last fifteen minutes of the half. Referee Hallam stopping the game with the ball in Vigouroux’s possession. The Black Cats seemed to have worked out Sheehan’s first half formation with Swans players now deeper. However, the midfield battle was to the Swans slight advantage. Dan Neil got away with a nasty challenge on Key, Fulton took the free kick. It was a nailed on yellow which again was exposing the referee’s lack of experience. The high ball was now Sunderland’s preference but it really wasn’t working. Either catching players offside or going out for a thrown in.
Both sides were now playing around each other, good passing play for the football purist. The Swans now had an eye on going in at half time level. A long throw by Eom led to some confusion for the home side, but they scrambled it away. Both sides were now cancelling each other out, but we shouldn’t forget the Swans went into this game with a recent eight game run of form which was better than their hosts. This was a completely different game to the one we saw at the Swansea.com earlier in the season when Sunderland sneaked a 2-3 win. Different times as well.
Time and time again the Black Cats were being caught offside, the Swans midfield playing extremely well. We were now into the final bits of added time. The last action was a Sunderland corner, their first of the game. The set piece came in from the Swans right. It was decent but Vigouroux punched it away firmly. From that Franco was brought down when he won the ball.
And that was the end of the half.
This was a competitive first forty eight minutes by both sides, knocks were taken, Tymon and Franco, but the Swans never looked out of this game. Sunderland won’t be happy, but they have only themselves to blame, their tactics were poorly executed.
No changes as we kicked off for the second half. The Swans immediately on the attack, O’Brien found Ronald and his cross was very poorly dealt with by Cullen in the area, it’s was another half chance. Cullen seemed to be in slow motion. The crowd were now down to a ghostly murmer .it was an odd start. It had the feeling of a Sunderland training game. O’Brien was again being targeted tripped from behind on fifty minutes.
Thereafter the Swans took more control, Ronald shooting so far wide spectators towards the corner flag were in more danger than the Black Cats goal. Tymon was getting forwards more and Ronald looked far more busy. On fifty six minutes he was brought down on the Swans right. The crowd didn’t like the decision at all. Eom took it, Harry Darling met the ball with his head, it cannoned off the bar as Ben Cabango calmly tapped in the goal. 1-0 to Swansea. That was definitely off the training ground. This Sunderland tactic of diving and little sneaky fouls went against them again on sixty minutes. From the same position as the goal, Eom and Tymon stood over the ball, Eom delivered, the defence just got the ball away and the move ended with an Eom blocked shot. Fulton got in on the act bringing down a Sunderland player, he was booked. Franco then put in some wonderful blocks to stop Sunderland scoring much to the Jack Army’s pleasure in the stands.
We then saw Ollie Cooper and Zǎn Vipotnik on for Liam Cullen and Jay Fulton.
Desperate defending by the Swans with real commitment followed on sixty eight minutes. This led to a corner for Sunderland on the Swans left. The ball evaded enryone and the move was lost after Hume couldn’t get to it. An appeal for a Swansea penalty came on seventy minutes, Vipotnik seemingly brought down in the area, but it looked a soft one. Ronald got his legs mixed up as Swansea pressed but they were not laying back on this lead.
A mistake by Cabango, robbed of the ball saw him bring down Neil and it was another yellow card for the Swans. Aleksic was ion for Watson as the Black Cats looked to get forwards. A Sunderland attack followed but again was foiled by excellent Swans commitment. Vipotnik was more lumber than dangerous when closing down, more than a few yards off. Sunderland pressed again. With ten minutes to go it was far too early for a rearguard action surely ? It was get rid of the ball by any means necessary. Vipotnik giving the ball away in a very dangerous area, his head wasn’t in this game at all. A blatant foul on O’Brien was dismissed and seconds later Sunderland had an excellent chance to level from a set piece. The shot was blocked and these tactics were not clever. Not for my equilibrium in any event. With seven to play Franco was subbed for Joe Allen and Florian Bianchini for Ronald.
It was going to be a Swansea defensive game from here on in.
A Vigouroux save followed tipping a header over the bar for a corner. From there the ball was well headed away by Vipotnik. We had two minutes plus added time to go. Eom looked very relaxed after he challenged his opponent in the penalty area, the referee wasn’t interested. We were now half way through the added four. Then Kyle Naughton was on for Eom to see the game out. Darling gave away a corner with the home sides keeper joining the fray. That came to nothing but the Swans were harder and more committed in their defending. Bodies on the line that would eventually lead to another three points and the fourth time the Swans have won in Sunderland on the bounce. The Swans are now on fifty four points as the clamour for Alan Sheehan to be named permanent head coach increases.
And let us not forget three wins in a row going into a Good Friday home game against Hull City (3pm) Never really understood what the fuss was all about.
⚽️ Sunderland: Anthony Patterson, Dan Neil (captain) (Salis Abdul Samed 74), Alan Browne (Leo Hjelde 84), Patrick Roberts, Chris Rigg (Enzo Le Fee 58), Wilson Isidor, Luke O'Nien, Chris Mepham, Trai Hume, Tommy Watson (Milan Aleksic 74), Harrison Jones (Eliezer Mayenda 58).
Unused Substitutes: Simon Moore, Joe Anderson, Thomas Lavery, Oliver Rainbridge.
⚽️ Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux 7 Josh Key 7 Ben Cabango (captain) 7 Harry Darling 7 Josh Tymon 6 Jay Fulton 6 (Ollie Cooper 68) 5 Goncalo Franco 6 (Joe Allen 84), Lewis O’Brien 8 Ronald 7 (Florian Bianchini 84), Jisung Eom 7 (Kyle Naughton 94) Liam Cullen 5 (Žan Vipotnik 67) 5
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Cyrus Christie, Ben Lloyd, Sam Parker.
⚽️ Referee: Farai Hallam : Handled the game well, despite a few moments 7/10