RONDON TREBLE SHATTERS LOWLY SWANS

TO ALLOW Salomon Rondon a free header once may be misfortune, twice careless, but three times is the mark of a side in desperate danger of the drop. Swansea discovered as much during a blistering 13-minute spell by the Venezuelan striker, who scored a hat-trick of headers to turn this match swiftly in West Bromwich Albion’s favour and leave Swansea boss Bob Bradley furious as his team gave away three early Christmas presents. It was Rondon’s first hat-trick in English football and when he was replaced with five minutes left the stadium rose to applaud him. This fourth victory in six games lifted Tony Pulis’s side into seventh place and cut Swansea further adrift in the relegation zone. The visitors had actually acquitted themselves well until the start of the second half, when they utterly lost their way. Five minutes after the break Nacer Chadli drew a foul from Jay Fulton and Matt Phillips crossed for the unmarked Rondon to head home. Eleven minutes later Rondon did it again from almost the same spot after a fine cross by Chris Brunt. Only two more minutes passed before Rondon completed his hat-trick. This time it was Phillips, to Brunt, to Rondon, who rose to nod in off the crossbar. For the third home game in a row Albion had scored at least three goals. For Bradley, the gap from safety suddenly widens to three points, and their next game at Middlesbrough, the team immediately above them, takes on even greater significance. ‘If we do go a goal down we have to be able to get back into the game, not panic or lose concentration. ‘That’s the part that gets me angry,’ he said. ‘If you let them camp out in the box you’re asking for trouble.’ Rondon had actually had a suspect first half, fluffing two shooting chances. He was much better in the air and his hat-trick of headers was only the second in the Premier League after Duncan Ferguson in December 1997. Pulis said: ‘Salomon is getting better. The great thing is he missed two chances and that hasn’t affected him.’ Swansea pulled one back after 78 minutes, Wayne Routledge scoring