Chal wins battle of the sexies for Town
SWANSEA’S “sexy football” came unstuck as Trevoh Chalobah gave Ipswich their first win.
And Tractor Boys boss Paul Hurst admitted three points at the Liberty Stadium was a huge relief as his team edged a thriller.
Graham Potter’s Swans dominated the game, went ahead through a Janoi Donacien own goal and had 74 per cent possession.
Swansea also plundered 18 efforts, but it was not to be their day.
Home chairman Huw Jenkins had praised Potter in his programme notes for bringing “sexy, winning football” to Swansea but here defensive lapses cost the Welsh side.
It allowed Ipswich to strike through Gwion Edwards and a Mike Van der Hoorn own goal to go 2-1 up at the break.
Bersant Celina looked like he had secured Swansea a draw against his former club but Chalobah won the game for Ipswich as his header beat Kristoffer Nordfeldt’s poor attempt at a save.
Potter said: “We started very well, got the goal, and we did a lot of things right.
“We had so many chances to score but if you concede three goals it’s very hard to win football matches and that’s cost us even though some of our attacking play was very good.
“As a team we are still a work in progress and we will learn from this experience. It was not our day.”
It was almost too easy for Swansea early on as Connor Roberts’ cross was deflected into his own net by Donacien.
A nightmare four-minute spell at the back cost them dear.
First Freddie Sears crossed for Edwards to head home.
Then the latter saw a header of his own strike Van der Hoorn before hitting the back of the net.
Celina levelled but there was still time for Chalobah to steal a winner against the run of play.
Hurst said: “It’s been a long wait for a win and it was probably unexpected with us coming here as huge underdogs. The last few minutes felt like hours.”