SWANS BACK WITH A WIN AHEAD OF PLAY-OFFS
SWANSEA City moved up to fourth place in the Championship as they came from behind to beat Derby County at the Liberty Stadium and their rivals in the relegation mire.
Chances were at a premium in the opening 45, although the Rams went ahead early on in the second half as Wales international Tom Lawrence headed beyond Freddie Woodman.
But Swansea struck twice in the space of four second-half minutes to gain control of the contest – with Connor Roberts lashing home his fifth goal of the season after Morgan Whittaker had netted his first league goal for the Swans against his old club.
And the Swans held on to claim victory which saw them leapfrog Bournemouth in the table which puts them in the driving seat to have a home second leg in the play-off semi-finals.
With a play-off place already secured, Steve Cooper gave Marc Guehi the chance to rest up while Andre Ayew – who is carrying a minor injury – was also left out of the squad.
Whittaker was drafted in to start, while Roberts, Ryan Bennett, Korey Smith and Yan Dhanda came in for
Kyle Naughton, Guehi, Jay Fulton and Conor Hourihane respectively.
Whittaker was presented with a glorious chance to strike against his previous employers after just three minutes as Nathan Byrne’s poor touch allowed the in-form Jamal Lowe to race through on goal, although the ex-Rams forward’s touch from his teammate’s pass was heavy as the chance went begging.
However, neither side were overly threatening in the final third – despite the game being relatively open.
Wayne Rooney’s side opened up the Swans on the 20-minute mark as Kamil Jozwiak’s pass allowed Colin Kazim-Richards to bear down on Woodman, but Ben Cabango produced a vital sliding challenge to take the sting out of the striker’s shot.
That briefly gave the visitors a lift, although Woodman remained relatively untroubled as a heavy downpour ensured the pristine playing surface was slick, to say the least.
It was all a bit static from the home side. Swansea’s lack of urgency ensured Derby were able to remain compact in defence, although they were barely troubled themselves.
The game wasn’t without niggle though as Lowe was left on the turf after a nasty challenge from Byrne, who had earlier been booked for a collision with the Swansea attacker.
Byrne escaped further punishment as a fairly flat first-half ended goalless in Swansea.
But the hosts made a disastrous opening to the second half as Lawrence beat Roberts to head home Byrne’s cross just two minutes after the restart to put Derby ahead.
It sparked a huge roar from the Derby bench as they knew it was a goal they knew could be enormous in their quest to avoid relegation.
They were much improved in the second half, while Swansea remained flat and somewhat lethargic.
However, just as the hosts looked blunt, they levelled as Cabango kept Dhanda’s delivery alive, and Whittaker’s header just crept over the line, despite the best efforts of visiting goalkeeper Kelle Roos.
It was the January signing’s last act as he was immediately replaced by academy product Ollie Cooper, while Ryan Manning was sent on for Jake Bidwell.
And it got better for Swansea just three minutes later as Matt Grimes’ sublime cross-field pass found Roberts, who coolly volleyed beyond Roos to complete a quickfire turnaround.
Derby looked shell-shocked having seen their lead slip away from them so quickly as Swansea started to show their class and Cullen had a shot blocked. Swansea thought they had a third goal 10 minutes from time as Lowe slotted beyond Roos, only for the offside flag to be raised.
And they had Woodman to thank for preserving their lead a minute later as he pulled off a fine save to palm away Kazim-Richards’ close range header.
The ending was frantic as the Rams desperately looked to claim something for their valiant efforts, while the Swans were only too happy to take the sting out of proceedings.
But after seeing Kazim-Richards and Lawrence have efforts, Cooper’s side – who gave a late Swans league debut to Brandon Cooper – held on to clinch all three points as they brought an end to a three-game winless run ahead of the trip to Watford on what will be the final day of the regular season next weekend.