There will be much reflection on this game today and indeed until we start to concentrate on next Saturday’s fixture against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. A game which sold out for Swans fans eighteen days ago.

There is a reason why West Ham are the odds-on favourite to go up. They are streetwise, physically imposing, pragmatic. Their backline is tough and experienced, with today's centre-back pairing costing a combined £60m, while their captain and starman Jarrod Bowen earns £150k a week. They average 60,000 fans; we had our record attendance at the Swansea.com today with just under 21,000. For all their Nuno-Ball nous, West Ham are the top scorers in the division by a clear eight goals, and almost double what the Swans have scored. But on the pitch today, there was no gulf.

It is a hard game to critique. We had some huge chances, but so did the Irons. When your goalkeeper is your man of the match, it is difficult to say that we deserved a point. The Swans did not have a single shot on target, yet if Ben Cabango (below) blasts his shot a few inches lower, we go into the break level, and hunting for our fourth comeback win of the season.

The difference at half-time was through a Divine Musaka goal (nice to have a firing player on-loan from Manchester City, isn't it?). The players appealed for offside but Ronald was playing the West Ham attacker on. Not that this should detract from the Brazilian's all-round contribution. There was much speculation about how Vitor Matos would cover the Filip Lissah suspension, and I thought Jay Fulton would be filling in when I saw the starting XI. Only when I saw the backline warming up did I realise that the number 35 would be employed there.

Ronald has been used sparingly this season, but he has contributed every time he has been given a chance. He was averaging a goal contribution every 37 minutes before today's game, and he did not let anyone down. He twice beat his man in the first-half to canter into space down the wing, didn't get beat one-on-one, and brought his usual energy and selfless commitment. Late on, he was perhaps too selfless when he headed back down across the box when it seemed easier to go for goal after Elijah Just's lofted cross. It says a lot that his left-wing opponent, Manor Solomon, a player with Serie A, La Liga, and Premier League experience, had - according to the West Ham Zone blog - his worst performance in a Hammers shirt.

This was a game played at a very high pace and intensity, especially the first-half. After the break, it was the home team wanting to play all the football. We ended with over double the passes, six corners to the away team's one, 69% possession, and a sense of injustice from West Ham's gamesmanship from the countless times their players went to the ground with apparent injuries. On his comeback from injury off the bench, Stephen Eustaquio was excellent, and brought some guile to the chaos. If he is fully fit, he will surely start against QPR.

In the end, however, Nuno-ball won out. I think the West Ham Way blog summed it up well: "This is the first time we’ve seen ‘Nuno ball’ in full force in the Championship because Swansea have been the first team to try to play us off the park. Fair play to them for trying, but they ultimately failed."

The Swans still sit top of the league. But there is still a question to be answered when playing against top teams. None of this season's wins have come against teams in the top eight at the time of the game. Matos lost his debut game at home against Derby County. Since then, he has only lost three home league games - Coventry City, Southampton, and West Ham. All quality opposition, no doubt, but the wait for the statement win goes on.

Matos : “It was a game decided in the box, and I think that’s how it was. Between the boxes, it was quite even. I think we had much more control, with much more initiative to try to get the game for us. Unfortunately, we were not as sharp as before in those moments. They defended really well as well. They are a good team, especially the back four was really organised and hard to break down. These are the games we want to compete in, and the kind of teams we want to compete against. We want to try to beat the best ones. They are one of the best of the league”

⚽️ Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux 9 Ronald 7 Ben Cabango 7 (c), Stephen Welsh 7 Josh Tymon 7 Jay Fulton 7 (Stephen Eustaquio 55’) 6 Marko Stamenic 6 (Melker Widel 75’) 5 Goncalo Franco 8 (Elijah Just 75’) 5 Joseph Opoku 7 (Jisung Eom 55’) 6 Moussa Yeo 8 (Zan Vipotnik 75’) 5 Adam Idah 7

Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Jenson Seelt, Thomas Woodward, Carter Heywood.

⚽️ West Ham United: Mads Hermansen, Maximilan Kilman, Morato, Arne Engels, Manor Solomon (Joël Piroe 84’), Divine Mukassa (Tomás Soucek 84’), Konstantinos Mavropanos, Mohamadou Kanté (Edvin Austbø 69’), Pablo (Valentin Castellanos 61’), Jarrod Bowen (C), Joël Veltman.

Substitutes: Alphonse Areola, Kyle Walker-Peters, Ollie Scarles, Airidas Golambeckis, Lewis Orford.

Attendance: 20, 973
Away 1,847

Referee: Referee: Josh Smith : Absolute plank 0/10
Assistant Referees: Adam Nunn and Andrew Fox Fourth Official: Tim Robinson

Photographs see disclaimer