Phil SumblerThe Swans will go into the last game of the season on Wednesday night with their slim play off hopes intact after a Connor Roberts goal on the stroke of half time was enough to see off Bristol City at the Liberty Stadium.
Roberts pounced with the last kick of the first half to finish off Conor Gallagher’s superb shot which had rebounded back off the post and gave the Swans a lead that they deserved totally on the balance of play in the first 45 minutes.
It did also need the assistance though of a missed penalty midway through the second half which came back off the same post to secure the win and keep those play off hopes alive.
Barring some big scorelines it will be Cardiff or Swansea that take their place in the end of season play offs with the Swans needing three points at Reading which will need to be coupled with Cardiff losing to Hull who do need to get a positive result to keep alive their hopes of staying in the Championship for next season.
It was always likely to take two wins at the start of play for us to make the play offs and so it proved with Cardiff brushing past former manager Neil Warnock and Middlesbrough at the Riverside to leave them needing just that point.ย For Steve Cooper he was facing a Bristol City side that still had very very faint hopes of play off positions but that would have taken an even more remarkable run of results.
In Gallagher Swansea have at the moment a genuine play maker and when the Swans look dangerous he is at the heart of the play.ย If Cooper can persuade Frank Lampard to let him have another season at the Swans then we will have secured a genuine threat for next season, double whammy if Klopp is prepared to let Brewster have another go at the Liberty as well.
It has been the form of these two (and quite a few Ayew penalties) that have kept us in the play off hunt right to the final game of the season.ย You can see that both have a greater future in the game than Championship football but this is good experience for them and with Cooper very much having the backing of the Chairman then our chances of keeping them are increased.
The second half never lived up to some of the play of the first half for us but we still deserved the win and were the better side although that would have obviously been so much different had the post not kept out the penalty.
So we head off to the Madejski on Wednesday night with our hopes just intact, three points and nothing less will do and then we can just hope that Hull do us a favour against our cousins in the East.
