Swansea City 1-1 West Brom – Allen heads the Swans a point in stoppage time

The head of Joe Allen is probably one of the most unlikely methods to earn the Swans a point but that was exactly what happened at the Swansea.com Stadium this afternoon as the Wales international popped up in stoppage time to rescue a point for Luke Williams and his Swans.

The point would have been welcomed in a lunchtime kick off where West Brom appeared set to be heading back to the West Midlands with all three points in their pocket but a rare attempt on target for the Swans meant that they had to settle for a point and the Swans avoided a second successive defeat to start the year.

It hasn’t been a quiet week in SA1 or certainly not in the world of Swans online discussions anyway.  Links that first surfaced last weekend were between Luke Williams and today’s opponents and some very odd comments from the manager fuelled speculation that boiled over into a host of rumours on Thursday about a supposed imminent departure of Williams.   Those rumours subsided a little yesterday with both Luke Williams and Andy Coleman stating the commitment of the manager to the club long term.

It was probably therefore somewhat of a relief that both could focus on the match ahead today and certainly in the case of Williams he would have been  to put the 4-0 humiliation at Portsmouth behind him and deliver another good home performance.   He was able to welcome back into his starting line-up Goncalo Franco after his dental injury sustained against Luton but he was without Ben Cabango who was forced to sit out the game after going off injured against Pompey.   Cyrus Christie lining up next to Harry Darling in the centre of defence.  Also back in the side was Zan Vipotnik who started again with Bianchini dropping to the bench.

For Albion they arrived in SA1 in the play off positions and looking to consolidate that position as their managerial search continues.   With Williams seemingly out of the running (if indeed he was ever in it) they don’t seem in a huge hurry to replace Corberan especially when they seem to be doing OK without him.

A cagey first half followed although it was a period where both sides seemed keen to move forward.   West Brom were forced to defend some early corners from which the Swans certainly had half chances to score but at the other end the visitors were mustering the only shots on target in the opening forty-five minutes and twice Vigouroux was called into action to make some good saved to keep the scoreline level.

Swansea’s efforts were solely off target or blocked despite some promising moves during the opening period and it was probably a fair reflection that the half time interval came with the score locked at 0-0.

The second half started following a very similar pattern, both sides looking to move forward but both lacking in the forward department and it was always only ever going to be a matter of time before the managers tried to make changes to see if they could influence the outcome.   Those first changes came in the 57th minute as West Brom introduced Mowatt and Fellows whilst the Swans change saw Bianchini come on at the expense of the largely ineffective Vipotnik.

The changes did have the impact that one manager wanted but unfortunately for us it was not what Luke Williams envisaged.   A little over five minutes later West Brom again found themselves breaking against a retreating Swans defence.   And while too often for the Baggies liking they had given away possession when well placed this time around there was to be no such luck for the Swans.   A ball into the box reached substitute Fellows who drilled a low shot past Vigouroux into the near corner of the net.   You may question here whether the keeper should be beaten at the near post like that but either way it was a well placed shot that had the Baggies travelling support having something to celebrate.

Could the Swans get themselves back into the game after another setback?  The immediate answer was no as Albion continued to move forward and whilst a Grant goal was disallowed for a pretty clear offside the Swans were not really able to impose themselves on the WBA defence whenever they moved forward.  Josh Tymon did have a shot with fifteen minutes to go that did force some level of save out of Palmer in the visitors goal but it was straight at him and never threatening to bring the Swans back into the game.

At the other end West Brom were looking continually dangerous against a Swans defence that was looking at least half a yard off the pace offered by the visitors ad from one of their breaks Fellows should have done better than a shot that fired high and wide when he was well placed to test Vigouroux once again.   The game was in the last ten minutes and although there was just one goal in the scoreline you couldn’t help but feel it was a lost cause for the Swans – could we possibly pull something out of nowhere?

The answer was yes but we had to wait until the second minute of stoppage time to get it and it was from an unlikely source when substitute Joe Allen got the Swans level.  A good cross from Matt Grimes was flicked out to Ronald on the right and his cross back in was deflected off the head of Allen and into the net, the Swans were level, whether we deserved to be was very debateable.   It was the last incident of the game of any note other than some gentle pushing in the last minute that generated a couple of needless yellow cards and as the final whistle sounded the two sides shared the points but you suspected that Luke Williams was the happier man heading into the post match press conferences.

There was some level of importance today in the Swans not losing this game and the face that we didn’t should be seen very much as a positive especially against a side that started the day in the top six.   There remains much scope for improvement though within this side and the performances but for now we take the point we earned and seven from twelve in the last four fixtures is not a bad return all things considered.

FA Cup next week before we return to league action in two weeks in the small matter of the South Wales derby.

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