BLANK DAY FOR SWANS AS THEY PUT IN A FLAT SHOW
SWANSEA City turned in a flat performance as they played out a 0-0 draw with Birmingham City. The Blues had the better of the chances at the Swansea.com Stadium, with Tahith Chong, Maxime Colin, Juninho Bacuna and Scott Hogan all going close.
Hannes Wolf and Joel Piroe had the best efforts for Russell Martin’s men who lacked energy throughout having put in a real effort at Peterborough United on Wednesday night.
A positive saw Swansea keep their 14th league clean sheet of the campaign, with the two-week break set to be hugely beneficial ahead of the derby contest with Cardiff City on Saturday, April 2.
Flynn Downes was omitted from the squad as a precautionary measure due to a minor injury, with Finley Burns starting in place of the midfielder. The only other alteration from the dramatic 3-2 triumph over Peterborough United saw Olivier Ntcham start, although Korey Smith was reinstated at the last minute after Jamie Paterson sustained an injury in the warm-up.
Swansea dominated the ball and were typically confident in playing out from the back. And their patience should have been rewarded after just six minutes when Ntcham played Wolf through on goal, although the Austrian lacked the killer instinct to shoot at goal from an acute angle.
On his 250th appearance for the club, Kyle Naughton enjoyed plenty of freedom in the middle of the pitch, carrying the ball into the Birmingham half on numerous occasions. But it was Lee Bowyer’s men who should have gone ahead as Chong raced through on goal before squaring to Bacuna who somehow blazed over from just six yards out.
It was a real warning sign for the Swans as Andy Fisher had to palm away Gary Gardner’s strike moments later after a sloppy spell from the hosts. They remained threatening though, and Piroe was denied by Neil Etheridge on two occasions as the hosts showed some good signs in the final third.
Energy was clearly lacking, understandably so given the short turnaround from the Peterborough win three days earlier, and it contributed to what turned into a flat first-half. Martin’s men survived one further scare minutes before half-time as the lively Chong could only volley Onel Hernandez’s driven cross over the bar from close range to ensure the score remained level at the break.
The game was there to be won, and Joel Latibeaudiere replaced Burns for the second-half. But the Swans regressed, in truth. They were far too flat, and their sloppiness gave Birmingham plenty of encouragement. Chong was well denied by Fisher before Colin struck the post with a volley from a corner as Smith was replaced by Nathanael Ogbeta with just under half an hour left to be played.
Goalkeeper Etheridge was a mere spectator for the majority of the second-half as the hosts repeatedly made life difficult for themselves.
Fisher had to be alert to pounce on Scott Hogan’s header as the visitors continued to look the more likely to win it. Piroe had one last chance to nab all three points in the final minute of regular time, but his tame strike was saved as the points were shared ahead of the final international break of the 2021/22 campaign.