Caretaker boss Alan Sheehan paid tribute to his Swansea players after watching them turn the form book upside down and dismantle play-off chasers Blackburn 3-0 at Swansea.com Stadium.
Sheehan, placed in temporary charge of the club for the second time after head coach Luke Williams was sacked on Monday, could not have asked for a better response from his side.
The Swans had won only one and lost seven of their previous nine league games to slide down to 17th in the Sky Bet Championship table.
However, goals just before the break from Zan Vipotnik and Myles Peart-Harris – both restored to the starting line-up by Sheehan – gave Swansea a commanding and fully-deserved advantage at the break.
Peart-Harris then set up top scorer Liam Cullen for a third in the 62nd minute.
“I put it down to the players,” said Sheehan.
“It has been a really difficult week and it was about giving everyone the opportunity to have that disappointment – but then we have to channel it into some positive energy.
“We’ve asked a lot of questions of the lads this week and placed a lot of demands on them; we’ve all come under a lot of scrutiny.
“We had to come up with the right game plan – against a top six team – and the lads carried it out really well. All the credit goes to them.”
Swansea dominated throughout and crucially took their chances, but it may have been an entirely different outcome had home goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux not pulled off a fine one-handed save to keep out Andreas Weimann’s header inside two minutes.
Vigouroux denied Weimann again with the game still goalless and moments after that Swansea took a 39th-minute lead. Josh Tymon sent a free-kick into the Blackburn box and after they got themselves in a tangle trying to clear, before Slovenian Vipotnik poked home his first goal in 11 matches.
It got even better in first half stoppage time; after Vipotnik and Dion Sanderson had a brief tussle, the ball ran loose and Peart-Harris shrugged off Dominic Hyam, raced through and calmly rolled the ball beyond Pears.
Swansea continued to bombard Blackburn in the second half and Cullen put the result beyond doubt when he side-footed his 10th league goal of the season after Goncalo Franco had played Peart-Harris in down the left.
Rovers, who had won both of their previous games 2-0 under caretaker head coach David Lowe, were poor – and he admitted his side were firmly second best.
“It was a difficult afternoon for us,” he said.
“We had a couple of chances early on in the game which we didn’t take and, as we all know, if you concede first in the Championship, you’ve got an uphill task ahead of you.
“Unfortunately we didn’t produce the form which we have produced over the past two games and we’ve come up a little bit short.
“But it’s a learning curve for us; you’ve got to be up for every single game in this division and hopefully from now until the end of the season we’ll do that and manage to get into the play-offs.”
Leyton Orient remain on course for the Sky Bet League One play-offs after a 1-0 win which dented Wycombe’s hopes of automatic promotion.Randell Williams scored the only goal of the game and Orient’s victory, their fifth in succession, leaves them ahead of seventh-placed Reading on goal difference.Defeat for the Chairboys, though, has handed the initiative to Wrexham, who could seal the...
Doncaster clinched promotion to League One after goals from Rob Street and Billy Sharp secured a 2-1 win over 10-man Yorkshire rivals Bradford.In an incident-packed encounter in front of over 12,500 fans – the Eco-Power Stadium’s biggest crowd of the season – Doncaster hit the post through Jordan Gibson before on-loan Lincoln striker Street gave Rovers a 33rd-minute lead with his...
Reading’s hunt for a Sky Bet League One play-off spot will go to the final day of the season after the Royals beat Bristol Rovers 2-0 at the Memorial Stadium.Lewis Wing’s eighth league goal of the season after 67 minutes and Chem Campbell’s added-time effort leaves the Pirates staring at relegation after Noel Hunt’s side had to survive a first-half onslaught from the hosts....
Jamie Andrews struck a late equaliser as Woking twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Eastleigh in the National League.Tyrese Shade put the visitors in front after 14 minutes, played in on goal by Ben Close before finding the bottom corner of the net.Woking then drew level three minutes before the break when Aiden O’Brien headed in from Jacob Jones’ free-kick.Shade had Eastleigh back...
Port Vale secured automatic promotion to League One after beating AFC Wimbledon 2-0 at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.Second-half goals by Jayden Stockley and Jaheim Hedley ensured Vale would finish in the top three and also made a dent in the home side’s push for the play-offs.Vale created the first real attempt of the game which saw Lorent Tolaj fire over from 12 yards out following a cros...
Zian Flemming and Jeremy Sarmiento both scored twice as Burnley emphatically maintained their Championship title hopes by hammering QPR 5-0 in their penultimate match of the season.Josh Cullen also netted in a one-sided game as the Clarets, already promoted along with Leeds, won with ease to move to the top of the table, three points ahead of the Yorkshire side.However, Leeds, who are at home to B...
Nicolas Jackson ended his long goal drought to fire Chelsea a step nearer to the Champions League with a 1-0 win against Everton at Stamford Bridge.A dominant display was capped by the winning goal scored midway through the first half, the striker’s first since December 15 finished confidently from 20 yards past Jordan Pickford as though he had been scoring every week, as suspended head coac...
Celtic clinched the William Hill Premiership title in style with a 5-0 victory over Dundee United at Tannadice.Nicolas Kuhn and substitute Adam Idah both hit doubles after Ryan Strain’s 30th-minute own-goal kicked off the rout.Celtic had only needed a point but they wrapped up their fourth consecutive championship in similar fashion to last year, when a 5-0 win at Kilmarnock earned Brendan R...
Chris Wilder labelled his side’s 2-0 win over Stoke a “proper away performance” as they got back to winning ways.The Blades had seen their automatic promotion hopes ended after losing four of their previous five, including their last three matches away from Bramall Lane.An improved showing saw Sam McCallum, making just his eighth start of the campaign, score late in the first hal...
Goals from Sam McCallum and Andre Brooks ensured Sheffield United returned to winning ways with by beating Stoke 2-0.The Blades had seen their automatic promotion hopes ended after losing four of their previous five, including their last three matches away from Bramall Lane.McCallum had scored just one goal since his summer move from Norwich but popped up at the back post when Rhian Brewster&rsquo...
- 1 Transfer news & rumours LIVE
- 2 Cole Palmer’s girlfriend Connie Grace dazzles in low-cut top and mini skirt
- 3 Man Utd & Man City join PSG in race for Akliouche
- 4 We always have a chance – Miron Muslic bullish as Plymouth boost survival hopes
- 5 Tottenham to compete with Man City for defender
- 6 Ten-man Falkirk beaten by Raith as late goals keep title race alive
- 7 Big Brother legend Chanelle Hayes flaunts weight loss in red bikini
- 8 Transfer news & rumours LIVE
- 9 Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola fumes over point claimed at 10-man Crystal Palace
- 10 Daily Laugh - Totttenham 1-2 N Forest