SWANS ONE WIN AWAY FROM A RETURN TO TOP FLIGHT
SWANSEA City face another day of destiny at Wembley next weekend with Steve Cooper’s men just one victory away from a return to the Premier League.
And on what promises to be a memorable few days for Welsh football, Newport County will run out in the League Two play-off final 48 hours later after Nicky Maynard secured a last-gasp winner for them last night.
The Swans drew 1-1 with Barnsley in the Championship play-off semifinal second leg contest at the Liberty Stadium to book their place in Saturday’s final against Brentford after securing a 2-1 aggregate triumph.
Around 3,000 Swansea supporters were in attendance for the draw with Valerien Ismael’s side in what was their first opportunity to watch a game live in person since March 2020.
Brentford overturned a 1-0 firstleg defeat at Bournemouth to win 3-1 on Saturday and they will return to Wembley 12 months after losing out to Fulham in the decider.
Meanwhile, Mike Flynn’s Exiles, leading 2-0 from the first-leg against Forest Green Rovers, saw that advantage wiped out in the space of eight minutes of the return game.
When Rovers went 3-0 up in the second half the game looked to be up for Newport but 42-year-old Kevin Ellison came off the bench to score and level the tie overall before fellow sub Joss Labadie made it 3-2 to put Newport ahead again.
There was one more twist in the 90 minutes as former Newport man Jamille Matt made it 4-2 to send the tie into extra time.
And just when it looked as if penalties would be required to settle the outcome, yet another substitute Maynard popped up with a 118thminute decider.
Newport will now face Morecambe, who defeated Tranmere 3-2 on aggregate, with a place in League One next season the prize at stake.
Speaking after the second leg, Cooper revealed the supporters made the difference as Swansea held on to clinch their place in the final.
“They got us over the line. Amazing,” said the head coach.
“3,500, when you’re watching the game, it felt like it was 35,000. The supporters really represented themselves and the ones who couldn’t get into the stadium, like Swansea City supporters do. That’s loud and proud.
“I was asked before the play-offs whether it was an advantage to be home or away and who we’d be playing, and I wasn’t sure.
“But it was an advantage to be home tonight because of the support we got from our people.
“We showed a lot of character and determination over the last two games.”
ANDRE Ayew hailed the spirit in the Swansea City camp after they booked their place at Wembley on Saturday. 1-1 draw with Barnsley was enough to see Swansea through to the Championship play-off final, where they will face Brentford.
Ayew’s first-leg strike, coupled with Matt Grimes’ stunner in the second, meant Steve Cooper’s charges have gone one better than last term when they were eliminated at the semi-final stage.
Ayew’s goals have been crucial for Swansea this season – he has 17 to his name so far – and the Ghana captain was interviewed by Sky Sports after the match following another impressive display in the white shirt.
“First of all I’m very happy, honestly,” he said.
“It’s a great feeling, it’s what he worked for and we have one more game to go to achieve our goal.
“We have worked really hard this season.
“Now the fans are here again and we are happy to have the qualification and to have given the fans the chance to go to Wembley, but nothing is done.
“This is just another step forward and now we need to go and enjoy this victory and really prepare well for Saturday because there is one more step.”
The experienced attacker went on to say that he felt Swansea had learned from last year’s disappointment to seal their place against the Bees.
As the question was being asked by the
Sky commentator, Swansea fans – back in the stadium after more than a year away because of coronavirus restrictions – belted out “Andre Ayew!” chants from the stands, which put a huge grin on the 31-yearold’s face as he began to salute them.
“I think it did,” he added, regaining his composure.
“We always learn from our mistakes and from what we did good or bad.
“You could see this game was very tight both there and here.
“Grimesy’s goal was incredible and it put us in a good position.
“Now we are in the final and we need to go and get the victory.
“What’s important is these goals have taken us to the final and that’s what we want.”
Ayew had spoken in the build-up to the clash with the Tykes about the blend of experience and youth at Swansea this season.
And it shone through once again on Saturday night during a tense encounter at the Liberty.
Defenders Marc Guehi and Ben Cabango – both aged just 20 – were superb again and Ayew believes the mix has been vital.
“Honestly, it’s very important,” he said.
“I’ve been in a lot of squads in my career and met different players and coaches, but this squad is unique.
“The unity is not fake – it’s real.
“We understand each other. “Sometimes we argue, like anywhere, but it’s always for the better.
“I’m very proud of the squad, this team, and what we have done.
“Now we need to relax, prepare, but enjoy this moment because you don’t always get to do good things in football.
“When you do, you have to enjoy it and then get back to work because we want to win on Saturday.
“Mentality, strength, unity – you need everything if you want to win on Saturday.
“We are going to prepare for that and we’re going to make sure we’re all physically and mentally ready.
“We know what’s coming next with Brentford.
“We’ve played each other twice.
“We’ll go for it and it’s going to be a very tough game.”