Piroe lives up to Van Nistelrooy tag for Swansea
Swansea City claimed their first win of the Championship season under new head coach Russell Martin, thanks to a striker who has earned past comparisons to Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Like the free-scoring former Manchester United forward, Joel Piroe came through the junior ranks at Dutch side PSV Eindhoven before moving to English football.
The 22-year-old joined Swansea for £1 million this summer and he struck his third goal for his new club to down Bristol City. The Robins are now on their longest ever winless home run.
Their last success at Ashton Gate came as long ago as Jan 26.
“I thought Joel was outstanding,” said Martin. “He took his goal brilliantly but it wasn’t just what he did for that, he put in a brilliant shift. It’s exciting to see what he can do moving forward.
“It was a great feeling to get a win and hopefully we can do it many more times. There was loads of positive stuff, but we need to improve and get better.”
Swansea were without Ben Cabango and Flynn Downes after they tested positive for Covid-19. Martin confirmed both Kyle Naughton and Ryan Bennett – who were again absent here – have also been struggling with coronavirus but should be fit to face Plymouth in the League Cup on Tuesday.
Bristol’s Matty James and Chris Martin spurned several early chances.
Swansea stunned Ashton Gate with an opener against the run of play. Piroe broke clear, cut on to his left foot, and unleashed a powerful strike which hit the post and rebounded back into play.
Piroe reacted brilliantly and made a difficult finish from the edge of the box look easy as he slotted it home without taking a touch to control.
Bristol dominated the second half in front of 20,139 raucous supporters, but they could not break through and their manager Nigel Pearson is feeling the heat.
The Ashton Gate crowd grew increasingly frustrated as 10 players were booked in total – six of them Swans. “We didn’t look nervy – it was a case of us not taking our chances,” Pearson said. “We did hit the target and the players applied themselves. We were unfortunate.”
Bristol City (4-2-3-1) Bentley; Simpson (King 85), Kalas, Atkinson, Dasilva; James, Massengo; Scott (Semenyo 60), Pring (Wells 71), Weimann; Martin. Subs O’leary (g), Bakinson, Baker, Palmer. Booked Simpson, Weimann, Atkinson, Semenyo.
Swansea City (3-4-1-2) Benda; Latibeaudiere, B Cooper, Manning; Laird, Fulton, Grimes, Bidwell; Paterson; Piroe (Lowe 81), Cullen (Whittaker 71). Subs Hamer (g), Joseph, Dhanda, Mcfayden, Williams. Booked Fulton, Piroe, Manning, Bidwell, Latibeaudiere, Grimes.
Referee Geoff Eltringham (Durham).