Portsmouth 4-0 Swansea City: Pompey record emphatic win at Fratton Park

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Portsmouth and Swansea City at Fratton Park on New Year's Day; Josh Murphy, Paddy Lane, Ryley Towler and Colby Bishop net in emphatic Pompey win.

Wednesday 1 January 2025 18:00, UK

Paddy Lane and Ryley Towler netted their first goals of the season as Portsmouth continued their excellent home form by running riot with a 4-0 victory over Swansea.

Pompey have scored 14 goals in a five-match unbeaten run at Fratton Park, including a 4-1 thrashing of Coventry in their last home outing before Christmas.

Josh Murphy and Colby Bishop joined Lane and Towler on the scoresheet in their latest four-goal showing on New Year's Day.

The south coast side escaped the bottom three, after two post-Christmas away defeats had dropped them back into the relegation zone, while Swansea saw a two-game winning streak end.

The opening 20 minutes were a disappointment, with Zak Swanson's tame curler the only effort of note amid incessant rain.

But Murphy broke the game open with his fifth goal of the season in the 22nd minute.

Swanson stole the ball on the right flank, lent the ball to Lane, before delivering a cross into the middle that was too far in front of Colby Bishop but Murphy slid in at the back post to lash into the roof of the net.

The former Cardiff winger celebrated lavishly in front of the visiting fans by shushing and then doing 'the Ayatollah' celebration synonymous with Swansea's Welsh rivals.

Bishop had two chances, a stabbed shot and a volley, to double the lead before Lane managed to put Pompey in control in the 29th minute.

Josh Tymon allowed a ball to bounce in his own box which allowed Lane to nip in and divert goal-bound, with Tymon and Harry Darling left questioning why the other had not dealt with it.

Swansea showed their danger just before the break as Eom Ji-sung broke in behind only for Swanson to produce a goal-saving tackle.

The first 10 minutes of the second half was all the visitors as Nicolas Schmid had to be alert twice to keep out Ronald and Eom, before Tymon rattled the crossbar after escaping in the box.

But Swansea found themselves three goals down in the 62nd minute when centre-back Towler met Freddie Potts' pin-point free-kick.

Callum Lang was denied at the near post and Murphy forced Lawrence Vigouroux into a stunning save, but Pompey were not refused a fourth for long.

Substitute Cyrus Christie allowed Murphy to pinch the ball off him in his own box before the wide man squared to Bishop for the easiest of finishes and give Pompey their biggest win in the second tier since beating Leicester 6-1 in September 2010.

The managers

Portsmouth's John Mousinho:

"It is a brilliant win. It is great to get a clean sheet and great to score four goals. The performance backed it up as well.

"Swansea are a really good side and can cause you so many problems, just look at the last couple of days and the problems they caused us when we played at their place.

"Sometimes you have to ride your luck and we were fortunate not to concede, but at the same time we created a lot of chances and thankfully we took them.

"We've earned that from the way the boys approached the game after the defeat to Bristol City.

"I think three of the four goals came from the way we pressed. I'm pleased with that."

Swansea's Luke Williams:

"It is a really tough one to take. We didn't compete and we struggled to get to grips with the conditions and opposition.

"We looked like we were lacking focus and concentration and we got punished for that.

"This is where we are, we aren't ready to consistently perform in a certain way, we aren't there yet.

"It was a very bad day in the office but if we want to be a better team we need to find a level of consistency. The last two performances before this were excellent."