Phil Sumbler
Swansea City were good value for an away win at Huddersfield this afternoon as four second half goals secured all three points and kept huge pressure on a Huddersfield side who need massive steps up in the next two weeks if they are to avoid League One football next season.
Luke Wolliams named an unchanged side from the one that started last weekend against Rotherham and whilst the Swans dominated possession in the first forty-five minutes goal action at either end was sadly lacking although the action that there was saw the Swans have the best of the chances in what was a pretty forgettable forty-five minutes of football.
Ben Cabango headed wide early on in a chance that looked a better one than the commentary of the game suggested whilst Cullen wasted the best chance of the first half when he headed well wide with a free header in the penalty area.ย ย At the other end Huddersfield did little to suggest that they have any of the ability to get away from the threat of relegation that looms after them and the sounding of the half time whistle served more of a wake up alarm than anything else.
Huddersfield’s lack of composure saved the Swans a little over ten minutes into the second half when a poor backpass saw Rushworth sprint from his goal but as Delano Burgzorg got to the ball first you feared the worst but the attacker was heading wide and Rushworth was allowed to recover and eventually grabbed the ball in relief.
It was a moment though which gave the home side a little more belief that the Swans were there from the taking and we didn’t help ourselves by inviting pressure through giving the ball away and another error resulted in a Terrier corner which thankfully came to nothing but it was starting to feel like the writing maybe on the wall.ย How little we knew at that stage.
Luke Williams made his first changes of the afternoon on sixty-five minutes when Lowe, Yates and Walsh were introduced at the expense of Cooper, Cullen and Fulton as the Swans boss looked to see if he could change something in the pattern of play.ย ย With Cullen managing just twelve touches of the ball in sixty-five minutes it was no surprise to see him taken off.
Just minutes later though the home side should have taken the lead when a good move down their right hand side saw a perfect ball played across the middle of the area but thankfully for us Josh Koroma lifted his shot way over the bar much to our relief.
Huddersfield were made to pay for that miss just two minutes later when Jamal Lowe gave the Swans the lead.ย ย It was an excellent goal from the Swans forward who picked the ball up in his own half before passing to Jamie Paterson who was challenged but the ball fell to Lowe who ran into the area before curling a perfectly placed shot into the corner of the net.ย ย Paterson’s involvement in the goal was his last involvement as he departed through injury to be replaced by Patino – could the Swans hold onto the advantage they had earned themselves?
The Swans were given another reprieve five minutes later when Patino surrendered possession on the edge of the area and as the ball broke to Danny Ward he saw his shot rebound off the inside of the post and away to safety with Rushworth completely beaten.ย ย As we have seen so often this season the Swans ability to try and commit defensive suicide is second to none but the home side were not seemingly wanting to capitalise this afternoon.
The game had definitely opened up by this stage and the Swans were pushing for a second and they got it with five minutes left in the game to the simplest of goals beautifully executed.ย ย Not for the first time this season quick thinking from Rushworth saw the keeper launch a quick kick upfield which was beautifully controlled by Tymon.ย As the defender moved into the area he saw the run of Ronald and had the simplest of passes to the Brazilian who hit the ball into an empty net.ย Surely this was three points for the Swans as the boos rung out from the home crowd.
It was also Ronald’s last involvement of the game as the Swans made their last change before the game restarted and he was replaced by Abdulai.ย ย And it was the substitute who was involved in the third goal of the afternoon for the Swans as he played a ball into the area that evaded everyone and arrived with Jerry Yates at the back post who had the simplest task to put the ball into an empty net.
Incredibly though the Swans were not finished and two minutes later it was Liam Walsh who was adding to the scoreline with a fourth for the Swans.ย ย Again it was Abdulai with the assist but Walsh’s finish was exquisite as he lifted a shot from outside the area into the back of the net.ย ย The Swans were four-nil up and still pushing for more.
Walsh almost did get more in the fifth minute of stoppage time as his powerful shot from (again) outside the area was parried away by the home keeper.ย The Swans were rampant at this point.ย Jamal Lowe had the freedom of Huddersfield on the left hand side of the pitch and was making the most of it against a shellshocked Terriers side who simply were blown away by the Swans in this second half.
Make no mistake about this afternoon the Swans were good value for the win and scored four excellent goals.ย The impact of the changes made by Luke Williams had the effect the Swans boss would have wanted and he got our biggest win of the season as a result.ย ย We may have had to wait until 73 minutes in for the first goal but that patience was rewarded with four in twenty minutes and got the three points our performance deserved.
A good day at the office I think is the phrase.
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