Swansea City 2-1 Luton Town – 91 MPH – Swans get deserved win over Hatters

Myles Peart-Harris was the matchwinner for the Swans as he struck in the 91st minute to secure a deserved three points for Luke Williams side who made it six points from six in the two post-Christmas games in the process.

Peart-Harris struck a perfect header after Harry Darling headed back across a Matt Grimes cross to set up the opportunity which the on loan Brentford player needed no second invitation on to send the Swansea.com Stadium crowd home happy on what threatened to be another frustrating afternoon for the Swans.

And there would be no greater relief anywhere in the stadium then from that shown from Lawrence Vigouroux who had handed Luton an unlikely lead after just five minutes when his poor pass found Carlton Morris in the penalty box and the forward needed no second invitation to shoot the Hatters in front.

From that point forward though that was only one real likely winner of the game as the Swans pushed forward at almost every opportunity, recording more than twenty shots on goal and only being denied by another solid performance from Thomas Kaminski in their goal who kept the outcome of the match in doubt until Peart-Harris headed that crucial moment.

If the Boxing Day win over QPR had set the tone for us to head into the second half of the season we were given a wake up call of our own making in the early stages with the Vigouroux error.   There seemed little pressure as he picked up the ball from Tymon but it can only be described as a moment of madness that handed the ball to Morris and Luton took a lead that gave them hope of securing something on the road after eight straight defeats away from Kenilworth Road.   Defensive lapses are proving to be an achilles heel for Luke Williams these days and he was as frustrated as Vig was with the error made especially so early on in the game.

The Swans though did not let the early deficit concern them too much as we pushed forward with the high press that Williams tells us so often that we want to see and with space being found in midfield then it made for an entertaining game against a side who clearly were happy to try and defend their lead.    Kaminski almost handed us an equaliser when he dropped a reasonably harmless Matt Grimes shot at the feet of Eom but such was the surprise of the Swansea man he was only able to see a snap shot come back off the post to the relief of the visiting keeper.

The Swans were keeping the pressure up though with both Ronald and Eom enjoying plenty of the ball on the flanks and it was the latter who had the first of what seemed to be two good penalty shouts on the day turned down when he appeared to be clipped in the box but the referee waved it away – the first of some very strange decisions by the man in the middle during the game,

Luton were starting to lose some discipline and McGuinness was shown a yellow card for delaying a throw in whilst Johnson followed him soon after into the book for a foul.  And just minutes later the Swans were level as Franco grabbed his second goals in as many games.  Eom’s corner from the right was met after a scramble in the area by Cullen who’s shot was blocked before Ronald picked up the rebound to be denied by Kaminski but it was Franco who was quickest to react and he scrambled the ball home to bring the Swans level, the very least that we deserved at that point.

The Swans could have gone into the break ahead but Ronald’s header from an Eom cross looped over the bar and onto the roof of the net meaning that we went into half-time level but with the Swans very dominant in most parts of the game.

The Swans were dealt an early blow in the second half when they were forced to change Franco after he clashed with McGuinness.   The midfielder went down holding his mouth and the free kick was awarded but somehow despite the contact from the defender to the face no second yellow card followed, something which should be rightly questioned in all the post match discussions.

After receiving relatively lengthy treatment (something that was to prove very relevant at the end of the game) he came back on long enough to see the Swans have what looked a stonewall penalty shout turned down.   As Bianchini looked destined to shoot with only the keeper to beat he was bundled over in the area but the claims were waved away.   This surely had to be a penalty when there was no reason other than a foul for the player to go down given the clear sight on goal that was available to him.

Franco was down again at this point and replaced by Fulton but although the midfield looked slightly less effective as a result it did not change the pattern of play too much.  Indeed, the Swans could have been ahead on the hour mark when a superb free kick from Matt Grimes was met by the head of Harry Darling but his downward header bounced up at a nice height for Kaminski who palmed the ball away to keep the scores level.

Shortly after the Luton task became bigger when they were reduced to ten men.  Eom was breaking out of the defence and was tripped by Johnson who really had given the referee no option but to show him a second yellow card.   You could call it a soft booking but the reality was Eom was moving clear of the player and to bring him down when already on a yellow card was more than a little stupid.   There were no real protests in the opposition numbers which tells you the story as Johnson trudged off the pitch past his manager who is becoming more and more under pressure less than two years after leading Luton to an unlikely Premier League promotion.

It was now a case of could the Swans break down a resilient Luton side in the remaining twenty minutes or so of the game.

It was very much one way traffic as the Swans moved further and further up the pitch with both Darling and Cabango spending more time in the opposition defensive third rather than their own and you did start to think it was just a matter of time although Luton were clever at keeping the Swans at bay and reliant on long shots from both Darling and Cullen that were easily dealt with by Kaminski and looked to be frustrating the Swans.

Peart-Harris and Vipotnik were introduced with fifteen minutes to go with Eom and Bianchine making way but it was having little impact on the games with Luton’s ten men behind the ball frustrating the Swans and the home crowd to equal effect.   They were briefly reduced to nine men after some pretty poor play acting from Krauss meaning that the physios were called on but strangely despite multiple calls from the referee refused to come on instead leaving Luton to scramble to replace Krauss.   However, the referee was having none of it and eventually got his way as Krauss made his way to the sidelines being forced to watch his team mates clear the free kick which was awarded after his initial foul before his blatant attempt to waste some time.

As the fourth official signalled seven minutes of stoppage time, you wondered if it was enough to give the Swans the lift that we needed to secure the three points and in the first of those seven minutes it was.  Another superb Grimes cross was met by Darling – pretty much playing up front now – who headed back across goal and it was met by a perfectly timed header from Peart-Harris which was destined for the back of the net the moment it left his head.   The celebration that ensued was natural and the Swans lead was a deserved one – there cannot have been a person inside the stadium who would have denied them that moment based on the overall play.

Just a minute later it could have been three as Fulton was set free on the right and – credit where it is due – he played a perfect ball into the box where it was met by Vipotnik but his shot was straight at Kaminski who saved well.   Having said it was straight at the keeper there was nothing more the striker could have done here, an inch or so either side and it was a goal – this was just an instinctive move after which we can count ourselves unlucky not to have taken the lead.

We played out the rest of stoppage time with some ease and three more points in the bag and a move up the table that sees us head into 2025 in 9th place and within touching distance of the top six.  When we look back on the games gone so far this season we remember still what could have been and it could have been better but on a day like today we should enjoy the three points and look forward to a very winnable match at Fratton Park on New Year’s Day.

Another good day at the office!

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