Rob Davies
Swansea City once again reaffirmed their position as the number one team in Wales by seeing off the challenge of ten man Cardiff City at the Swansea.com Stadium this afternoon.
The league double was unprecedented so to make it a treble (or trebe if you like) broke another record as goals from Oli Cooper and Michael Obafemi sealed the win in relative ease.
Callum Robinson’s daft seventh minute sending off for throwing the ball in Ben Cabango’s face undoubtedly had an impact on a game in which the Bluebirds had started the better.
The win moves Russell Martin’s side up to 4th in the Championship on 27 points from the first 16 games including 6 wins from the last 7 games.
He kept faith with the team that defiantly came back from 2-0 down against Reading to win on Tuesday with the only squad change seeing Cameron Congreve instead of Josh Thomas on the bench.
Benda
Wood – Darling – Cabango
Latibeaudiere – Fulton – Grimes – Sorinola
Cundle – Obafemi – Cooper
The first few minutes probably ramped the nerves up a little more for the home fans with the Bluebirds starting reasonably well although it was clear to see that they had two plans of attack: to hit the left wing and isolate Wood and Latibeaudiere and to overload the right to press Sorinola.
Ryan Allsop – the goalkeeper who inexplicably got away without seeing red for a push on Jamie Paterson 35 yards from goal last season for Derby County – had clearly been practicing his distribution to those areas which was causing problems albeit without creating a clear chance for the Bluebirds.
Harry Darling was extremely fortunate to not concede a penalty in the most ridiculous of manners when Benda played him the ball from a goal kick inside the area. The Swans centre back wasn’t looking and quickly put the ball back for Benda to retake the kick when play had already quite clearly resumed. Luckily the referee and linesman clearly weren’t paying enough attention.
Then the red mist came down for Callum Robinson – a striker/winger signed by Cardiff from West Brom this summer – when he stupidly got caught in the moment and threw the ball at Ben Cabango’s face from close range. After a delay and shouts from the stand for a red card he was dismissed and the game suddenly looked a much easier prospect than it did just a few minutes before.
From that point on it seemed like it would be a case of attack vs defence and that’s exactly what it was; Cardiff would dig in with a bank of five at the back, three in midfield and Sheyi Ojo furrowing a lonely task up front. I’m not sure he had more than three touches all match.
And a jubilant Swansea.com Stadium were keen for the 11 men to press home their advantage against the old enemy, Obafemi coming agonisingly close after quick football through the centre of the pitch saw the impressive Luke Cundle play him through but he dragged his effort past the post.
There was a moment of panic as Cardiff launched a rare counter which was unconvincingly cleared by Darling to Tom Sang whose volley was well palmed away by Benda for a corner, which eventually came to little.
If the Swans were lucky to have got away with the earlier handle by Darling, Cardiff were massively fortunate that the linesman was oblivious to the most obvious of hand balls by Cedric Kipre. The on loan West Brom defender practically punched the ball away from Sorinola’s cross as the Swans players screamed at the referee for a spot kick.
Nothing doing but the home fans didn’t have to wait too long for a much needed goal as the Swans kept the pressure on down the right side with Grimes’ cross not dealt with sufficiently by Niels Nkounkou. The ball fell to Cundle who took a touch to try and set himself before falling, the ball eventually finding its way to Oli Cooper who curled into the top corner via the aid of the crossbar. Cue scenes of joy and relief all round.
That was Cooper’s third goal in three home games and surely enhances his claim for a spot on plane to Qatar with Wales? Despite all the fanfare about Ruben Colwill and Jonny Williams, neither are on his level or producing the form that he is right now.
Perhaps the fact that it was Oli who scored when his dad Kevin played for the Bluebirds made the goal all the sweeter and demonstrated exactly where Cardiff have gone so wrong over the past ten years or so with the BBC confirming they had indeed turned him down after several trials in the past.
Obafemi had a further chance to extend the lead before half time but his snap half volley from a right wing cross just drifted wide of the far post as half time arrived with no more goals.
No changes from the home side’s perspective at half time although Cardiff did introduce Mark Harris, a Swansea born forward to try and beef up their attack.
And after another Obafemi effort which stung the fingertips of Allsop it was Harris who had a rare sight of goal for the Bluebirds when a ball was swung in from the left but his header was over the bar and not troubling Benda.
Cabango then struck a fierce curling effort towards the top corner and it’s something he’s clearly been working on having done the same in the previous game only for the Cardiff goalkeeper to just claw it away for a corner.
It wasn’t long before it was 2-0 as Fulton fed Grimes (who would have thought they would become such a good partnership in the middle?) whose delightful through ball was delivered with such precision that Obafemi only needed to take the one touch to pass beyond Allsop for 2-0. That really was game, set and match.
From that point on it should have been more, substitute Ntcham looked dangerous and was finding space whilst Obafemi had another good chance to make it 3-0 but hit wide.
Indeed it didn’t need to be as the most comfortable of games ended with 83% possession to the Swans and yet another win against what was a dogged Bluebirds side with a shortage of any genuine quality up top.
The fact they are the second lowest scorers in the Championship should set alarm bells going further up the M4 and of course they perhaps should reflect on a third derby loss in succession. Indeed it is no longer the “doube” but the “trebe” and bragging rights belong to Swansea City yet again.
Fittingly the win moved the Swans back into the play-off places as high as 4th just 3 points off the summit as the team looks to maintain momentum in the lead up to the break for the World Cup in Qatar.
Yet again, you’ll never beat the Jacks.
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