Rob Davies
Swansea City got a desperately needed three points at the Stadium of Light thanks to a brace from Brazilian winger Ronald.
The impressive January signing got two deserved goals in a dominant first half display by the Swans as they followed up the last good away win at Hull City with another positive result on the road.
It’s a shame the home form has been so dire as largely away from home we’ve been acceptable, certainly not suffering the sort of hammering at Elland Road for example that we had at home a couple of weeks ago.
The positives are slowly coming for Luke Williams and his team with the pace on both wings proving a real positive after what was a little bit of an underwhelming January transfer window, following up the poor summer dealings after last winter’s non entity…
It wasn’t just Ronald who showed his worth with the much maligned at Norwich City Przemyslaw Placheta again offering plenty on the left wing but he’s clearly in desperate need of a goal.
Perhaps he can take some lessons from his counterpart on the other side of the pitch. The trademark Ronaldo celebration a little comical but there’s no doubt he’s making his mark in South Wales.
We can point to several instances where we’ve got transfers wrong over the years but this one looks to be a superb bit of business and will more than likely in the future fill another one of those financial holes in the accounts.
After so much criticism in the back to back home games the defence must take credit for what was a solid performance limiting a Sunderland team to precious little in the way of chances.
Kyle Naughton still proves to be a steady head at the back in his 300th appearance for the club on the ground where he scored that all important second goal to secure our Premier League status in 2017.
Another one rolling back the years is Joe Allen who despite his injury worries makes Jay Fulton look fragile at best. His inclusion also brings the best out of Matt Grimes; if only we’d done the deal to bring him back in 2016…
The substitutes didn’t really have the desired impact in what was a less impressive second half display although after a first half where Swansea could have scored five it shouldn’t be a negative that a more backs to the wall display was required.
Sunderland have a fearsome home record having beaten Leeds United and many others this season so having to hold on somewhat is hardly a surprise and shouldn’t be a stick to beat the team or manager with after a very good overall display.
Williams has had a tough time so far but this result will no doubt provide serious encouragement – if only so many sides down near the bottom hadn’t won then the gap to the bottom three would have been much prettier.
Onwards and upwards!
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