Swansea 2-0 Bristol City: Goals from Liam Cullen and Olivier Encham as Swans win their first win in seven games
Swansea defeated Bristol City 2-0 to put an end to fears of being dragged into a relegation match on Sunday.
Goals from Liam Cullen and Olivier Ncham gave Swansea their first win in seven games and put them 10 points behind 22nd-placed Huddersfield with eight games to go.
Bristol City are two points ahead of the Swans, who suffered their third defeat in five games.
The Robbins did little to trouble goalkeeper Andy Fischer, who has been under pressure for recent mistakes, but Andreas Wyman saved stoppage time for offside as Swansea kept their first clean sheet of 2023. It seemed that his efforts had not been recognized.
The hosts hoped to embark on a promotion challenge after beating Welsh rivals Cardiff in October, finishing fourth in the table. I’ve seen close to the scrap of .
Bristol City won the FA Cup replay here in January, but Swansea needed a quick start, with Joel Pillow firing wide from a diagonal just 11 seconds later.
Cullen wasted a six-minute chance as he failed to control Liam Walsh’s clever pass in front of goal and saw Ryan Manning blocked by Zak Byner.
Robbins goalkeeper Max O’Leary was tested for the first time half an hour ago when Harry Darling met Matt Grimes’ angled ball at the far post. O’Leary pushed out his Darling header and Cameron Pring blocked his Walsh follow-up attempt.
The visitors’ reprieve didn’t last long as Walsh found Encham and the Cameroonian midfielder released Karen.
Swansea’s Joel Piroe (left) and Matt Grimes are delighted with the all-important three points
Mark Sykes shot straight to Fisher from 25 yards before Bristol City’s best opening was the dying embers of the first half. Alex Scott reached the byline with great skill and gave Andy King a chance to shoot, which Pillow missed.
The pattern of the contest remained the same after the interval with Cullen clearing the crossbar and Pillow heading for the post.
Bristol City sent Wyman and Anis Memeti to provide an attacking threat, forcing Fisher to collect Omar Taylor-Clark’s drive from a distance.
Swansea ended the match 13 minutes after Encham strode past a tired Robbins midfield.
Substitute Morgan Whittaker headed back Jamie Patterson’s cross before Encham successfully switched the ball with his right foot to beat O’Leary from 14 yards out.