AYEW GETS COOPER’S BACKING IN WAKE OF ELBOW ROW
SWANSEA 2 CITY Bidwell 46, Cabango 68 1 MILLWALL Bradshaw 51
SWANSEA City boss Steve Cooper moved to defend star frontman Andre Ayew after he was accused of “embarrassing” behaviour during the clash with Millwall.
Swansea won 2-1 to make it 10 points from their opening four Championship matches.
But the match was marred by a second-half incident when Ayew screamed in agony as he went down in an off-the-ball incident with Millwall defender Jake Cooper.
Millwall manager Gary Rowett was heavily critical of Ayew’s behaviour in his post-match interviews and said ‘there is no place in the game’ for his kind of actions.
Rowett said of the Ghana striker: “I’ve watched it back. They thought it was a blatant elbow, but as he goes across Coops he runs into his arm.
“No contact would make anyone roll around the floor screaming like that.
“There is no place for that in that game. I thought it was pretty embarrassing. There wasn’t a mark on him.”
Swansea head coach Cooper was quick to defend Ayew, although he did not accuse his Millwall namesake of striking his player intentionally.
“I’ve seen it back, and he’s definitely caught him,” said Cooper.
“I don’t think any of us would like an arm flush in our face. Whether it’s intentional or not I don’t know.”
Jake Bidwell and Ben Cabango were the unlikely goal heroes for Swansea.
Bidwell nudged home his first goal for the club shortly after halftime, although Gary Rowett’s men equalised through Wales forward Tom Bradshaw soon after.
But Cabango fired beyond Bartosz Bialkowski midway through the second half to put Swansea back in front.
Swansea went into the match having kept clean sheets in all of their three matches of the league campaign so far, but they were dealt a blow ahead of kick-off as goalkeeper Freddie Woodman was ruled out with a stomach bug. It presented Steven Benda with the opportunity to make his Swansea debut.
There was little to choose between the sides early on in what was an unsurprisingly tight affair.
Cabango wanted a penalty after hitting the deck in the box in the opening stages, although referee Stephen Martin refused to point to the spot.
Jamal Lowe and captain Matt Grimes both had shots from distance as Swansea looked to carry more of a threat although, in truth, the sides were fairly evenly matched.
Ayew blazed well wide after cutting inside from the left as Swansea grew in confidence.
The home side created their best opportunity on 34 minutes as Ayew’s cross was headed into the path of Lowe, although the frontman tried to tee up Connor Roberts instead of pulling the trigger, and Millwall were able to clear their lines.
And Lowe went close to putting Swansea ahead just before half-time, although his volley from Ayew’s cross was well blocked before Bidwell headed wide.
But Swansea went ahead in the first minute of the second half as Bidwell outmuscled Mahlon Romeo to nudge home Morgan Gibbs-white’s cross.
However, the Lions levelled on 51 minutes as striker Bradshaw drilled a low shot beyond Benda.
The swift equaliser gave the Londoners a lift, and they carried more of a threat after becoming the first side to score against the Swans in the Championship this season.
But Swansea regained the lead on 68 minutes as Lowe and Bidwell both had efforts blocked from GibbsWhite’s floated free-kick, although Cabango lashed home from yards out to make it 2-1.
Benda palmed Alex Pearce’s shot over the bar and the German goalkeeper denied Jake Cooper in the first minute of injury time.
And the hosts withstood a barrage of late pressure to maintain their excellent start to the campaign.