Swansea City 3 - 1 Coventry City
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2022 6:33 pm
Paterson strikes again against poor Sky Blues
Coventry City allowed Swansea to complete a Championship double over them with a worrying performance that dented the club’s play-off hopes.
The Sky Blues were 2-0 down at the break and only had themselves to blame after as poor a half as their fans will have seen this season, just when they needed a lift to keep pace with the chasing pack.
And the Swans wrapped things up just two minutes into the second period when Michael Obafemi bagged his second of the afternoon in what has to go down as one of City’s worst performances of the campaign - after the 5-0 thrashing at Luton - brightened slightly by a late consolation goal from Gus Hamer.
Cov kid Jamie Paterson gave the Swans the early lead yet again, as he had at the CBS Arena earlier in the season, stroking home past Simon Moore in the 12th minute at the Liberty Stadium.
The Sky Blues were carved wide open with a smart move that started with right wing-back Korey Smith playing a neat one/two with Paterson on the flank before sending a low cross into Michael Obafemi who touched it to the Coventry-born player to his left, leaving the forward to slot between Kyle McFadzean’s legs, across the keeper and inside the far post.
As expected, the home side dominated possession on the slick and lush surface, with Coventry having to work incredibly hard to win the ball and play on the counter attack.
And when City did get sight of goal, as they did from a free-kick just after the half hour mark, they lacked the quality to hurt their opponents as Gus Hamer sent a loose ball high and wide of the target after the set-piece had been cleared.
Things went from bad to worse in the 40th minute when midfielder Flynn Downes drove forward from midfield after Ben Sheaf had missed the bounce, and with Jake Clarke-Salter standing off the Swans man sent Michael Obafemi in between Kyle McFadzean and Todd Kane to slot past Moore who should really have made the save, having dropped down and looking like he was going to get a hand to it.
It was all too easy for the home side during a poor half from Coventry who didn’t manage a single shot on target until first half stoppage time when Viktor Gyokeres nipped in on a back-pass, only to be denied by keeper Andy Fisher who dropped to the deck to make the save.
Russell Martin’s men then killed the game off with a third goal barely two minutes into the second half when Sheaf allowed Matt Grimes to get away from him and send Obafemi through, the pacy No.9 beating McFadzean for speed and slotting clinically past Moore.
Gyokeres was denied again shortly after, this time by a timely block from defender Kyle Naughton before the ball fell loose to Ian Maatsen who wasted his opportunity by sending it high over the bar.
Robins took the opportunity to get Matty Godden some valuable game time when he made a double change just after the hour, sending the striker on for Bidwell while Martyn Waghorn replaced Gyokeres.
Both strikers had opportunities to get City back in the game, Godden first denied by a decent low save by the keeper before Waghorn sent a free header inches wide of the target with all the goal to aim at.
City, however, did manage to score a late consolation goal when Godden had a decent effort saved by the keeper who pushed the ball out as far as Waghorn. The experienced striker then pulled it back to tee up Hamer to slot home inside Fisher’s left-hand post six minutes from time.