Ayew recreates Ricky Villa’s Cup magic

JORDAN AYEW produced a carbon copy of ricky Villa’s immortal 1981 Fa cup final goal to put swansea into this year’s fourth round.

the swans’ Portuguese boss carlos carvalhal admitted he’d never heard of Villa’s classic. ‘i’ll look it up on Youtube,’ he promised.

ayew’s effort, weaving past five defenders before tucking the ball into the bottom corner, is unlikely to be replayed over and over like Villa’s goal.

it wasn’t even the winner. that came from a stabbed shot by Wilfried Bony late in the second half and shortly after diogo Jota came on as sub to equalise.

But for carvalhal, looking for ways to create momentum in the seemingly impossible task of saving swansea from relegation, it was every bit as beautiful. ‘We are building confidence,’ he said.

‘i am so pleased for Jordan, he deserved it, he is a team player, he works for his mates and in the last few minutes when he had given everything he still didn’t stop running.’

ayew squandered a chance, but there was no stopping him when he set off on his slalom run on nine minutes.

he went between two tackles, skipped aside from two more, then pushed the ball away from a fifth challenge before drilling it low past keeper Will norris.

it was getting on for half-time before Wolves got any sort of toe-hold in the game, with alfie Mawson blocking alfred n’diaye’s shot after a Barry douglas freekick hadn’t been properly cleared.

Wolves upped the stakes on the hour when santo sent on top scorers Leo Bonatini and Jota. it reaped immediate benefit as Jota fired home.

swansea responded instantly. tom carroll’s ball into the box created havoc and Bony was sharp enough to react and stab it home. in the end it was a scruffy one that booked an away tie at notts county — but the real winner was an absolute beauty.