Swansea 2 Stoke 0

Tuesday, 27 October 2020, 21:40
3 mins read

Goals from Jay Fulton and substitute Kasey Palmer gave a much improved Swans side a comfortable 2-0 win over Stoke at the Liberty this evening, a win that was good enough to lift the Swans into 2nd place in the Championship table.

Steve Cooper made three changes from the side that started on Saturday against Bristol City.  Into the side came Kyle Naughton, Yan Dhanda and Ryan Manning with Cabango, Smith and Bidwell all dropping to the bench as we searched for a first win in four.

And one of the changes almost created the perfect start for Cooper when Dhanda rattled the woodwork inside two minutes after some strong work down the right hand side from the Swans.  It set the tone for an excellent first half of football with the Swans continually looking dangerous on the attack and seemingly able to break through the Stoke defence at will.

Dhanda was adding exactly what we have been missing since the injury to Morgan Gibbs-White and all of a sudden, in contrast to recent games, there seemed urgency in the Swans play.  Dhanda wasted a golden chance to put the Swans ahead when he was played in behind the visiting defence but a poor touch gave the keeper chance to clear when it looked for all the money as if we would take the lead.

The Swans were gaining all the plaudits at this stage and rightly so and it looked a matter of time before we opened the scoring.  And when we did it came from some excellent all round play from the team before Guehi broke into the area and his cross was only cleared as far as Fulton who finished with some style to give us the lead.

We didn’t ease off from them and still should have extended our advantage and went in just the goal up at half time wondering whether the missed chances could come back to haunt us.

Stoke were forced at the interval to use a substitute on a change of keeper but came out stronger in the second half with the Swans being pushed back more than they were in the opening 45 minutes.

Despite that it was always looking like the Swans who would extend the advantage and it could easily have come when Ayew was denied from very close range after the Swans were given an indirect free kick on the six yard box following the goalkeeper handling a backpass.

There were 73 minutes on the clock when Cooper made a triple sub – Bidwell, Cabango and Palmer introduced for Manning, Bennett and Dhanda.  At this stage, Stoke had zero attempts on goal to their name such was the Swans dominance of the game and that was before you considered the significant corner count advantage that the Swans had.

The triple change seemed to fire up Stoke more than the Swans and some action ensued in the Swans area but none of it troubling Woodman although we know all to well the fragility of a one goal advantage no matter what the domination of the game may have been at that point.

Lowe spurned a chance to finish the game when he used his strength to go clear of the defence from a long ball by Fulton – the shot well saved by Gunn.  A minute later Grimes had a go from a direct free kick but his attempt did nothing to trouble Gunn and the game moved into the last ten minutes somehow with the Swans just a goal up.

James McLean proved just how obnoxious an individual he is when he took out Connor Roberts and an inevitable yellow card followed but easily could have been more such was the lack of attempt to get the ball from the Irishman.  Palmer took a yellow card shortly after for a foul on McLean which you wonder was retribution ahead of anything else.

And it was the very same player who made certain of the three points for the Swans when he was played in my Bidwell after good work by Ayew.  The bravery of Palmer was there to be seen as he got his head to it before being clattered by Gunn but it was the least the Swans deserved on a night when the performance level improved massively.

With the three points secured the Swans were able to see out play with some comfortable ease – ease to which we have not really become accustomed but for all the critics after the last few games, the plaudits should be out tonight for a game that we were in control of start to finish.

More of the same Saturday please Steve.

CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS/FIXTURES

LEAGUE TABLE AS IT STANDS

Images courtesy of Getty Images, Athena Picture Agency and Swansea City Football Club.

Phil Sumbler

Been watching the Swans since the very late 1970s and running the Planet Swans website (in all its current and previous guises since the summer of 2001 As it stood JackArmy.net was right at the forefront of some of the activity against Tony Petty back in 2001, breaking many of the stories of the day as fans stood against the actions where the local media failed. Was involved with the Swans Supporters Trust from 2005, for the large part as Chairman before standing down in the summer of 2020.

NewsNow

League Table

Next Up

Forum Latest

Latest from Blog

Swans TV: Luke Williams ahead of Sheffield Wednesday | Press Conference

. . .Luke Williams talks to the press ahead of his side's Championship clash against Sheffield Wednesday the Hillsborough. For more information, as well as all the latest Swansea City AFC news, log onto the club's official website at http://www.swanseacity.com Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SWANSPLAYER Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SwanseaCityFC Follow…

Ronald’s Swansea move was “the happiest day of his life”

Brazilian winger Ronald admits that his move to Swansea in the January window was the culmination of a childhood dream that saw him wanting to play in Europe. Ronald has made an immediate impact at Championship level for the Swans and added a much needed injection of pace into a…

Swans TV: Junior Jacks | Press Conference

Swansea City's Harry Darling, Kyle Naughton, Jess Williams and Sammy Wynne sat down with some of our junior season-ticket holders for a press conference with a difference at the Swansea.com Stadium. The young supporters got the chance to ask the Swans quartet about what it's like to play for the…

Sheffield Wednesday v Swansea City – Your matchday guide

The Swans are back in matchday action on Friday as they take on relegation threatened Sheffield Wednesday with the impressive win over Cardiff City still fresh in our minds. That win over the Bluebirds gave the Swans a seven point cushion ahead of the bottom three and eight over Friday’s…

Swans TV: John Cornforth | Lifting the Lid

. . . For more information, as well as all the latest Swansea City AFC news, log onto the club's official website at http://www.swanseacity.com Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SWANSPLAYER Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SwanseaCityFC Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/swansofficial Follow us on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/swansofficial Swansea City Association Football Club is a…

Don't Miss

In the end it came to penalties – but it’s more than one thing that never changes

So that was the tournament that was Euro 2020.   For

Connor: Only 1% want us to win

Wales will tomorrow evening go in search of their second