Oxford United 1-2 Swansea City – Swans score again and pick up three deserved points

WE SCORED A GOAL.   Well. actually we scored two and secured three points in the process.   It was a deserved win too for the Swans at the Kassam Stadium this afternoon as they secured the maximum return but in true Swansea City fashion we had to make it nervy for ourselves after conceding a late goal to give the home side hope.

With more than five games having passed since the Swans last scored a goal, manager Luke Williams made the one change in the starting line-up by handing a starting place to Joe Allen ahead of Liam Cullen as he looked to try and get some more bite in midfield.  New signing Cyrus Christie was named on the bench whilst Aimar Govea made his first matchday squad of the season with his place on the bench.

When you are in search of a goal and on a barren run like the Swans you do sometimes need a bit of luck to break that sequence but when Peart-Harris headed against the bar from a corner you wondered if that luck was out for the Swans as the game remained scoreless despite us again controlling the possession stats but also creating very little from the possession domination.

Defensively the Swans were rarely troubled in the first half as the home side struggled to have any real impact going forward and when the goal drought was finally ended in the 38th minute it was probably what the Swans deserved from the first half.   A ball from Key set Ronald through on the right hand side and he had the simplest of tasks to roll the pass across to Vipotnik who easily finished the chance and ended the run that had seen us manage 563 minutes without a goal.

As the Swans played through to the half time whistle the relief for Luke Williams would have been clear as he headed off for his half time team talk with his side finally with a goal to their name – the first for more than a month of football.

The second half started with good chance for both sides and neither of them taken.  First it was rumoured summer target Mark Harris who wasted a glorious chance to bring the home side level when he skewed his shot wide from inside the six yard box whilst just a minute later Vipotnik was denied a second goal of the afternoon when his shot was saved at point blank range by Jamie Cumming in the home goal.

The game was definitely opening up at this stage and both managers started the changes with Williams introducing Liam Cullen for Joe Allen and Oxford making a triple change just minutes later in a bid to get themselves back into the game.

The Swans were definitely the dominant side as we ticked past the hour marl with 12 shots at goal and plenty of football looking to attack the Oxford goal and the hope was – as it always is at times – that our wastefulness in the final third at times was not going to come back and haunt us.

Goncalo Franco was one in particular who was finding himself, on more than one occasion, in a good shooting position but on each of them he was unable to find the target but it was at least a step in the right direction that the chances – and space – were being made by a side who have lacked creativity in recent weeks.

Luke Williams made another change with twenty minutes to go when he introduced Bianchini at the expense of Vipotnik and just seconds later would have been grateful that Ebiowei wasted a good chance for the home side when he shot high and wide when the reality was there was plenty of space to run into before the shot needed to be taken.

Minutes later it was captain Matt Grimes to whom the Swans were grateful when he put his body on the line to deny Oxford a goalscoring chance and within three minutes the full benefit of that was felt when the Swans went two goals up.

Franco was the architect and his perfect through ball found Bianchini who used his first touch to place the ball across the goalkeeper and into the back of the net to double our advantage and grab his first Swansea City goal into the process.

With his side looking good for three points Luke Williams made a triple change by bringing on Abdulai, Christie and Naughton replacing Peart-Harris, Goncalo and Tymon in the process.   Surely the Swans could see this game out from our position of dominance.

Life is never that simple though as a Swansea City fan as Oxford pulled one back with a little over two minutes to go.   The game had appeared to be fading into nothing in the last few minutes but the Swans seemed to go to sleep and Scarlett kept the game alive with a good finish that beat Vigouroux who had been largely untroubled all afternoon.

And you could easily argue that Oxford could and maybe should have been level in the first minute of stoppage time when an excellent squad was headed wide when it looked almost certain that an on target header would be on the cards.   The changes made after the second goal appeared to have disrupted the Swans and Oxford were keen to capitalise on that disruption.

Thankfully though for the Swans there was no more dramas at either end and the three points that our overall performance deserved was secured for a first win in seven games and three welcome points to relieve the pressure on the side.

With a home game to follow on Tuesday night it gives a chance to build on this result but for now we can enjoy the fact that not only have we scored a goal but we scored two and picked up three points on the road in the process.

A much better day at the office!

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