Phil SumblerJamal Lowe is the Swansea hero this afternoon as he scored a goal in either half to give the Swans the bragging rights in the first South Wales derby of the season with the Swans very worthy winners at the Cardiff City Stadium.
For the first time the fixture was played in front of an empty stadium that maybe had taken away some of the anticipation ahead of the game but it doesn’t hide from the fact that both sides went into this game knowing exactly what a win would mean for their fans watching at home.
The Swans were able to welcome back both Ryan Bennett and Marc Guehi into their starting line up having both been missing in midweek and lining up against a side that went into the game on the back of four straight league victories.
The Swans made the dream start in the game finding themselves a goal up inside six minutes. A run down the left from Bidwell saw a deep cross headed down by Roberts and Lowe’s shot was low and had enough power to escape the clutches of Smithies in the home goal and find the back of the net. Had Steve Cooper been a man for premonitions then this would have been the way that he wanted to start the game
It set the tone for the first half where Swansea were largely in control and very much on the lion’s share of possession in a game that was devoid of clear cut chances in the first period. Games of a local derby nature often bring challenges that warrant cards and on another day a referee may have produced a red card for either Bennett or Moore in completely unrelated moments in the first half. But he settled for a first half with just four yellow cards, keeping his red in his pocket at least for the first period but more on that later.
Grimes tested Smithies with an excellent shot that was pushed onto the post as the Swans looked for a second whilst Cardiff failed to trouble Woodman with anything meaningful in the first half as they looked to be running on largely empty legs after their recent run of good results was achieved with largely the same side in play.
As the sides went into half time then it would have been no doubt that Steve Cooper was the happier of the two managers and knowing that he was still in charge of a team that had the best defensive record in the division.
The Swans started brightly and a foul on Fulton by Ralls generated the fifth yellow card of the game and a further boost was given to the Swans when Kieffer Moore limped out of the action just ten minutes into the second half – this was all going Swansea’s way with Woodman largely a passenger even at this stage.
If Neil Harris was going to have a tough job then it was made almost impossible thanks to the stupidity of Joe Ralls. The one thing you cannot do when you have been booked is lunge into a challenge let alone one that is so badly timed. As Roberts went down the referee had no alternative but to reach for his pocket and it was a shortened afternoon for Ralls as Cardiff went down to ten men.
They were a team that didn’t look like scoring against eleven men so against ten you had to say you believed the points were safe but that was before a moment of magic from Lowe. As Ayew broke the ball came to Lowe just inside the Cardiff half. As he advanced Roberts was in acres of space on the right but the Swansea forward had just one thing on his mind and his shot from the outside of his foot at the edge of the area was perfect and gave Smithies no chance and doubled the Swansea lead.
Ayew and Lowe were now both players in high confidence and both were trying to add to the lead as the Swans assumed total control of a game that was heading towards its final ten minutes. And when we are in total control of a game then our passing gets better and Grimes, Smith and Roberts combined in a superb move to give Guehi the chance to add to the scoring but his shot flew over the bar with eight minutes left on the clock.
WOW! 🔥
It's a stunning solo goal from Jamal Lowe to double Swansea City's lead at the Cardiff City Stadium! ⚪⚫
Watch live on Sky Sports Football now! pic.twitter.com/p1J67bdykr
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) December 12, 2020
Lowe was denied the chance of a hat-trick when he was replaced with four minutes to go by Wayne Routledge but his work for the afternoon had been done and for a player that was deemed to be devoid of confidence then this afternoon will have done him the world of good for the games to come.
To their credit the Swans weren’t sitting on their two goal advantage and continued to probe for the possibility of the third goal whilst a request for Neil Harris for a ball that his side could play with was denied and his team were left chasing shadows with the Swans winning the ball back quickly every time they afforded Cardiff a rare touch.
Make no mistake this afternoon this was a deserved win for the Swans and one that showed quite a difference in ability and class between the two sides and it says much that Woodman never looked like seeing his goal breached and never really had to make a save of note to keep Cardiff at bay. I guess the only downside is that there were no fans in the stadium to watch the game but there is little doubt where the bragging rights sit at this point in time.
Maybe by the time of the return fixture in March we will be in a position to have spectators in the ground and they could be witness to a historic moment in this fixture with the possibility of a first ever league double by either side.
And on the evidence of this afternoon you certainly wouldn’t bet against it!
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