Shelvey Strike Gives Swans Win

It has been a testing few weeks for the Swans thanks to injuries, poor performances, notable absences and of course the sale of top scorer Wilfried Bony but we put all of that to one side as a patched up side secured our first league away win since the opening game of the season at Old Trafford.

Shelvey’s strike from 25 yards came just seven minutes from the end of the game as he exploited the space afforded to him and hit a bending shot past Fraser Forster to give the Swans the win. The travelling Jack Army celebrated and rightly so having watched a first half where the Swans were very much on the defensive but – bar an early chance that was well saved from Fabianski – never really looked like conceding in a game where we did to Southampton what some teams have done to us in recent years.

Led from the back by the mightily impressive Ashley Williams and Federico Fernandez the Swans held firm and there was an impressive debut too from Kyle Naughton who joined just over a week ago from Spurs.

As another new signing – Jack Cork – looked on from the stands the midfield trio of Carroll, Fulton and Shelvey were important cogs in the game as well especially during the first 45 minutes.

And given the fact that we went in at half time with just 32% possession, it was always going to be a different performance in the second half and so it proved as the Swans increased in confidence as Southampton tired and seemed to run out of ideas.

Shelvey hit the post just before the hour mark as the Swans started to venture forward more although we ended the game with just 3 touches of the ball in the opposition area which sums up much about the shape of the game but takes nothing away from the fact that we deserved the win.

Williams became stronger and stronger in the second half and a couple of late goalline clearances secured the Swans win before the late sending off of Bertrand for a lunge on Barrow that saw our wide man leave on a stretcher.

There are games in this division where you have to ‘win ugly’ and to get a win at one of the hardest places in the division to go does not mean an ugly performance but it was an effective one and a three points definitely gained as we went back above Stoke and into 9th place in the table.

With Sunderland at home coming up next week we have a great chance to get back to back wins and put the misery of the past few weeks behind us.

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