Stylish Hull take a Bow
JARROD BOWEN went from zero to hero as Hull sealed a stunning comeback win.
Wilfried Bony wasted no time in taking his injury frustration out on the Tigers.
But Nigel Adkins’ men hit back in spectacular style thanks to three goals in the last 20 minutes to ease their relegation worries.
Bony marked his first league start for a year with a quickfire opener after just 158 seconds – but even with Erwin Mulder’s first-half penalty save from Bowen, the Swans were unable to hang on in the latest blow to their hopes of sealing an automatic return to the Premier League.
Bowen made amends for his spot-kick miss by guiding home Fraizer Campbell’s low cross at the culmination of an 80-yard counter-attack.
Tommy Elphick (above) put City ahead when he climbed above Leroy Fer to score with a towering far-post header from Kamil Grosicki’s corner six minutes later.
Bowen rounded off the Houdini act when he was allowed time and space to cut in on his favoured left foot to curl an 80th-minute third from 15 yards
It had all started so well with Bony back on the goal trail as he found the net for the first time since January to hand the Swans the perfect start with his 50th goal in English football.
Hull stood off as Barrie Mckay’s pass picked out the recalled striker, who made the most of the space to beat David Marshall with a thunderous low shot from 20 yards which found the bottom corner via a post.
Bony – who returned to South Wales from Manchester City 16 months ago for less than half the £28million paid by the Premier League Champions in 2015 – could have had a first-half hat-trick.
He almost doubled his tally with a spectacular overhead effort from Mckay’s teasing ball into the box. Todd Kane then cleared the forward’s closerange shot off the line from a Wayne Routledge cross, before Grosicki blazed over from 10 yards.
The Tigers looked set to level from the spot after Mulder was ruled to have brought down striker Campbell.
But the Dutch keeper atoned by guessing correctly to dive low to his left to divert Bowen’s spot kick for a corner.
Swansea’s hopes of hanging on for a win that would have left them just three points shy of the top six were blown away by Bowen-inspired City, who climbed eight points clear of danger, even though a deflected late effort from sub Bersant Celina ensured a nervous finale.