Phil SumblerThe Swans are back to winning ways thanks to a second half goal from Ben Cabango which gave us a vital win over Coventry.ย It was another far from convincing performance from the Swans but for the second midweek running we have scraped a 1-0 home win and remain very much on a promotion push.
After the horror show of Saturday afternoon where the Swans were beaten 4-1 at Huddersfield, Steve Cooper knew that this would be one of the biggest tests of his team’s character this season.ย While games have been lost before, rarely have we been so heavily beaten since dropping out of the Premier League so the bounce back from that defeat was always going to be key.
Ryan Bennett failed a late fitness test meaning Kyle Naughton kept his place in defence whilst Jay Fulton dropped to the bench to make way for Yan Dhanda who was recalled to the starting line up.
The nature of the last two games has been a cagey start from both teams and that was the case again this evening as the Swans looked again in the early stages a side slightly devoid of ideas and whilst we were offering some attacking intent it was the visitors who seemed to be doing more of the attacking in the game’s first quarter although neither side were testing the opposing goalkeeper.
Jamal Lowe wasted the best chance of the opening half hour when he pulled a weak shot wide after some great build up play from Dhanda and Roberts and it seemed to be summing up the Swans current form and play at this stage with chances few and far between and largely wasted when they did become available.
It was no real surprise that the game reached the halfway mark with no goals and the laugh was really when Ant O’Connell referenced half time highlights coming up – a first contender for the shortest show of 2021 award.
No changes at half time was a little bit of a surprise as it was to be fair when the Swans took the lead in the 54th minute as Ben Cabango headed home a Conor Hourihane corner.ย ย In fairness to Hourihane he put the corner in a dangerous area but if you were part of the Covenrty defence you could be bitterly disappointed that you didn’t manage to get it cleared between yourself and the keeper.ย ย Not that it mattered to us as the Swans were ahead and hopefully with the catalyst of better things to come.
As the game approached it’s final quarter we were greeted with a triple Coventry substitution which included Gyokeres returning to the Liberty Stadium whilst the Swans made a double change of their own with Fulton and Smith replacing Hourihane and Dhanda as we looked to press home the advantage we had gained through Cabango’s goal.
Shortly after Naughton was forced off with an injury being replaced by Latibeaudiere in defence but at this stage the Swans were definitely a team on top and Lowe almost doubled the lead from a surging run and a shot that just went past the post at the moment you thought it may nestle nicely into the bottom corner of the net.
Grimes was next to come close with another long range shot that just flew past the post and you sensed this was a Swans side growing in confidence again after what had been a pretty shaky week in terms of performances.
Coventry could – and probably should – have drawn level in the 87th minute as they got the better of the Swans defence with a free kick but thankfully the chance went wide of the goal with Woodman well beaten.ย As the clock ticked past 90 minutes the signal of five added minutes was not what the Swans wanted to see – in recent weeks you would be confident that we would hold out with some ease but in the middle of a poor(ish) run of form then you could not help but feel nervous despite the fact that Coventry had not tested Woodman with anything of note all evening.
However, the five minutes did pass without little action of note at either side of the area and the three points was secured by a blow of Andy Woolmer’s whistle shortly after the clock ticked past the 95th minute.
Yet again we find ourselves grateful to one of our defenders for a second half goal in a scrappy 1-0 win but the simple fact was tonight we needed the win to put last Saturday out of our system and we got just that.ย 59 points on the board, three more hopefully towards our end of season goal and a 13th game unbeaten at home in the league.
Onwards.
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