The Swans made hard work of this win at times despite the scoreline. There won’t be too many fans in the crowd last night confident this was an easy win. Even when Zān Vipotnik headed home number three.

He is now the top scorer in the Championship.

The overriding memory if anyone does remember this game at the end of the season will be the over elaborate way Swansea went about their business against depleted and poor opposition. The passing was there again and of course the missed opportunities came and went but there was a real sloppiness at times from a side who started the game just six points above relegation. That has now changed to eight but there are three more fixtures this evening. The good news is the Swans are seven points off the play offs. This may sound like a harsh initial review but really the overall over confidence was telling as the balance of play switched after the half hour.

Until then as ever the Swans were dominant in a game that contained some ruthless fouling from the Riversiders. The sloppy play, casual displays of over confidence and lack of awareness led to Blackburn’s equaliser - and it was telling that there was limited encouragement coming from Captain Ben Cabango after a howler from Ethan Galbraith. Giving the ball away leading to Rovers only goal of the evening it summed up this fixtures mindset. A ball across the Swans box seems to out do the defence a lot of the time, and worked for debutant, Mathias Jorgensen. With Cabango unable to close down a lovely ball into the danger zone Cameron Burgess seemed all at sea as Jorgensen stole in to equalise. There was a response, the Swans were by far the better side but footballing geniuses they are not. Well … The misplaced passes and slow movement out from keeper, Vigouroux allowed the visitors to organise and press. This caused a few problems in both halves. Larry was too casual and as much to blame for the slow pace as anyone else in the outfield. Nobody should be unhappy when their team score three goals in a game and win, but this was a real opportunity to do what Matos demanded before kick off.

Play with intensity.

It didn’t really happen but these are the moments which the Swans need to work on. Slack passing and poor decision making saw the visitors take advantage and gave them confidence to get forwards. A fully fit Blackburn side would have been a far different opponent. One of the top six sides would have taken this game and shoved the Swans noses in it. There is a gap between Swansea City and the play offs and it isn’t just in league placings. The intensity may have been called for by Matos but it only surfaced at times and then naturally ending in frustration or an incomplete move. Away at Hull this Saturday the Swans have to show up, the Tigers are flying. They won’t be as casual and sloppy as the Swans were tonight.

The positives though remain, Ronald had a good game, he is concentrating far more on playing football than diving around. Franco is the same, and that needs to stay out of their game. Franco against was always running but in no way reached the very high standards he displayed on Saturday against Birmingham City. Eom is an enigma at times, he too has all the bits and bobs but now needs to find consistency. He is a wonderful player though. Melker Widell is making strides, he has a big engine and makes a huge difference to the starting eleven. Vipotnik is in the hottest form of his career but the omission of Zeidane Inoussa was noticeable. We didn’t ask why pre match, so hopefully we will see him on Saturday. He needs games. The defence looks in a good place most of the time with Ben Cabango and Cameron Burgess solid when required. Burgess seems to be a lot more confident but always gives the feeling he may make a mistake. However, despite his bad luck at times he is an asset.

It has of course been good since Matos arrived, especially at home. He has rejuvenated the Swans and is leading them to a respectable mid table position. There are enough games left to worry a few sides in the top eight but these lapses in concentration have to stop. This wasn’t one of those games either, the Swans despite their frustrating play are a far better side than most around them. That probably sums up fans frustrations at time ? They are much better than their results suggest, the individuals in the side such as Ethan Galbraith if he moves on this summer will earn the club multi millions. Marko Stamenic is being asked to concentrate more on his defensive side but he too possesses a lot of quality.

Knowing all this and with the Swans seeking more recruits this month it is all very rosey. Alan Sheehan sadly fell apart in the six weeks before his sacking, and that will impact on the final placing the Swans achieve this season. It may mean more recruitment in the summer to replace a few losses and again this is the way it goes. However, we are going to see some more impressive performances from the Swans we are sure both home and away. Games like Saturday at Hull and away at Ipswich, Derby and Watford will be the measure as to what improvement has been achieved. Resilience is one thing but presenting teams with chances through poor choices in games won’t help the points balance sheet.

A word about Ollie Cooper when he came on. Made a few runs, needs to work on that press, possibly looked a bit too keen to please but nice to see you back.

⚽️ Swans - Larry Vigouroux 6 Ethan Galbraith 6 (Joel Ward 67) 5 Ben Cabango (c) 6 Cameron Burgess 6 Josh Tymon 6 Marko Stamenic 6 (Jay Fulton 56) 6 Goncalo Franco 6 (Malick Yalcouyé 79) 5 Melker Widell 7 (Ollie Cooper 66) 5 Ronald 7 Eom 6 (Liam Cullen 56) 6 Zan Vipotnik 8

Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Josh Key, Bobby Wales, Sam Parker.

⚽️ Riversiders : Balazs Toth, Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Sondre Tronstad, Sean McLoughlin (captain), Yuki Ohashi, Moussa Baradji, Connor O'Riordan, Mathias Jorgensen, Tom Atcheson, Brandon Powell (Dion De Neve 73), Aohan Doherty (Adam Forshaw 73).

Unused Substitutes: Nicholas Michalski, Harry Pickering, Yuri Ribeiro, Axel Henriksson, Eiran Cashin, George Pratt, Nathan Diamini.

⚽️ Referee: Anthony Backhouse : 4/10 : He really is inconsistent but didn’t lose the game like he did against Oxford at home.

⚽️ Attendance: 13,897
Away : 94

⚽️ Matos post match

⚽️ Blackburn head coach, Ishmael obviously blamed his missing thirteen players but really despite all that if ever the Swans were nailed on to win a game this season then this was it.
Ishmael post match

⚽️ Swans Indy
With a crowd some four thousand less than previous home games in midweek that was another message for the Swansea board. A high poverty area with Christmas taking its toll (this is the week it hits home) this game was obviously out of reach for a lot of the Swansea footballing public. It was a horrible day of wind and rain and little encouragement from the club to boost the crowd - it is what it is when you rely on people just to turn up. Recent grumblings over misprinted tickets, a lack of responses to Swans TV issues and of course the ticket fiasco of a few months ago and sometimes people just say ‘I’m not going’ Students are back at Uni or heading that way and this will also be reflected in the away sales for tickets come this Saturday at Hull city (3pm) The football is getting better, agreed. However, there surely is some direct targeting of certain games to encourage people ? It’s all been said before, and no doubt will be said again.

Photographs Open Source