Swansea City 2-0 Cardiff City – Normal service resumes as Swans cruise past Cardiff City

Swansea City cruised past Cardiff City at the dot com Stadium this lunchtime with goals from Liam Cullen and Jamal Lowe showing as the goal scorers on the day but the reality was the afternoon was much easier for the Swans than that as they dominated start to finish.

Luke Williams’ side delivered a top notch performance just when it mattered to deliver the Swans eighth win in the last eleven derby fixtures and a third straight triumph at home as yet again their dominance over their nearest rivals showed through.

Had the Swans at least doubled this scoreline there can have been little complaints from the away end as they found themselves on the backfoot for most of the game and the Swans could even afford a missed penalty and several other good chances to go begging and still pick up the three points.

It was the perfect tonic to take into an international break and means that Luke Williams has now seen his side pick up three wins in the last five which has put some serious daylight between us and the relegation places.

Cardiff came into this fixture on the back of four straight league wins that had ignited some talk of the play offs from their most optimistic of supporters but yet again they found themselves on the end of a Swansea performance that was as dominant as it was easy and they can also count themselves lucky that they ended with equal numbers of players after the referee deemed it unnecessary to issue a red card to Meite – he had two opportunities to do so, neither of which could have drawn too much argument had it happened.

The Swans included Harry Darling in the line up as a replacement for the injured Ben Cabango and the defender was a thorn in the Cardiff side at both ends of the pitch with two on target headers and one against the bar in the first half earning him a man of the match kind of display and certainly something to think on when Cabango recovers from his injury.

The Swans started well and had Cardiff on the backfoot as early as the first minute as they earned themselves a corner, the first of eight in the first half that tells you much about the shape of the game.   Pressing high, winning the ball back well up the pitch and being patient and controlled with the football tells you the story of the first half and the Swans had already come close twice from Cullen before the forward put the Swans ahead.

Cullen may have scored it and Naughton may be credited with the assist but it was the brilliance of Ronald that made the chance at all possible.  He won the ball in midfield and progressed forward after the deftest of flicks over the Cardiff defender and as he looked towards the corner he passed back to Naughton who delivered a superb ball across the area to be met by the sweetest of finishes from Cullen into the bottom corner and the Swansea support celebrated the opening goal of the afternoon.  It was the least that the Swans deserved in that first 45 minutes which saw Cardiff threaten absolutely nothing and with every passing minute their supporters became quieter and quieter as they realised it was happening again.

In recent weeks the Swans have been known to put in a good first half performance and then fall away in the second half but today was a different story.   As you would expect Cardiff did push forward a little more but the reality was the Swansea defence was completely up to the task of keeping out everything that Cardiff had.   And the harsh reality that the Bluebirds have to accept is that they didn’t have much.   Again.

Cullen spurned the glorious chance to double the Swans lead when he sent his penalty wide of the target after Ronald was fouled on the edge of the box.   With the keeper going the opposite way it really should have been two and there is rarely an excuse to miss the target but it would be harsh to be too hard on Liam who gave everything to the cause today.

Grimes, Cullen (again) and Placheta all threatened to add to the scoring as the changes came on a frequent basis but the desire to win this game was all with the Swans and highlighted every time they broke down a Cardiff attack or put a body in front of the ball on the rare occasion they found themselves in our penalty area.

The game was sealed in the last minute of stoppage time when Lowe broke clear of the Cardiff defence and showed the complete composure to go past the keeper and slide the ball into the empty net and spark the celebrations that the afternoon deserved to deliver.  It had been a long time coming but it was exactly what the Swans deserved and they were good value for the victory.

Quite how Cardiff did not end up down to ten men will be one for referee David Webb to advise on but simply for me he just bottled a big decision on a big occasion.  Twice.   Thankfully it made no difference but whilst Meite could count himself lucky and Bulut did as well as he hauled him off at half time.   That tells its own story.

So there we have it.   The Swans dominance returns to normal and the Bluebirds again make their way back up the M4 with their tails firmly between their legs no doubt still suggesting that Bristol City is their main rival anyway.   The build up from the East to this game tells you a very different story but simply yet again they had no answer to Swansea City.

Have you ever done a double on the Swans…

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