Swansea City vs Blackburn Rovers. Sky Bet Championship.
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Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Swansea City and Blackburn Rovers at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday | Joe Allen and Jamie Paterson seal first league home win for Swans under Luke Williams.
Saturday 2 March 2024 18:22, UK
Luke Williams finally earned his first league home victory as Swansea head coach at the fifth attempt with a 2-1 win against Blackburn.
Williams' previous four Sky Bet Championship matches in front of Swansea fans had all ended in defeat, but first-half goals from Joe Allen and Jamie Paterson enabled him to break that sequence.
The Championship's top scorer Sammie Szmodics pulled a goal back for Blackburn just past the hour mark, but Rovers were unable to make their second-half dominance pay.
It meant back-to-back league wins for the Swans for the first time since October.
But Blackburn are now without a win in their last six matches in all competitions and although they are 17th in the table, they are only a point above the drop zone.
Swansea started positively and were rewarded when they went ahead in the seventh minute through Allen's second goal of the season.
Winger Przemyslaw Placheta did the hard yards on the left and when his cross was not cleared properly, former Wales international Allen was able to drill his shot downwards and bounce it into the far corner.
Blackburn found the pace of Placheta and fellow wide man Ronald difficult to handle, with Kyle McFadzean picking up an early yellow card for a foul on Ronald.
But Rovers also added to their own troubles by giving the ball away and it was from such an error that they fell 2-0 behind after 19 minutes.
Andrew Moran lost possession under pressure from Swans skipper Matt Grimes with the ball falling into the path of Paterson.
He swept past McFadzean before firing low past Blackburn keeper Aynsley Pears from the edge of the box.
Rovers' own attacking threat was minimal in the opening half hour with a shot from Callum Brittain that flashed past the far post, and another from the wing-back that was held by keeper Carl Rushworth.
But their efforts intensified just before the break and Tyrhys Dolan saw one effort saved and another go just wide of the post.
Blackburn made two substitutions at half-time - bringing on Arnor Sigurdsson and Yasin Ayari - and looked more threatening.
It needed two timely interventions from Swansea centre-back Ben Cabango to keep out Rovers striker Sam Gallagher as the visitors looked for a way back into the contest.
Cabango stepped up for a third time to block an effort from Szmodics, but moments later Rovers' top scorer had pulled a goal back with his 25th of the season in all competitions.
A free-kick on the right from John Buckley reached Szmodics and the striker reacted sharply to sweep the ball home in the 67th minute.
Blackburn were now in the ascendancy and Swansea were clinging on to their narrow advantage.
But from a rare home breakout, substitute Jerry Yates should have given Swansea breathing space, only for the striker to dither over his shot which enabled Pears to save.
Despite defending for most of the nine minutes of added time, Williams' side kept Rovers at bay.
Swansea's Luke Williams:
"We started on the front foot and were very strong. Back-to-back wins are brilliant because they start to build belief.
"I am really proud of how we withstood that comeback from them in the latter stages of the game because the opposition had nothing to lose, threw everything forward at us and we stood up to a lot.
"But we need to improve how we attack a lead, rather than defend a lead. That's the bit we need to improve - to see a game out more comfortably. It was more anxious than I would have liked.
"But I felt something from the connection between the players and the fans that I hadn't felt before. We have to build on it.
"It was a really good feeling. The fans have been great. After we have lost, they have shown us some love, but it always feels much better when you win."
Blackburn's John Eustace:
"I'm disappointed to have lost the game because I felt in the first half we started slowly and conceded two really poor goals.
"That hasn't been like these boys since I've come in, but I thought we grew into the game and we still had three or four really good chances where we should have scored. We need to be more clinical.
"The character in the group is fantastic. We kept going and we scored a good goal to get back into it. But, unfortunately, we couldn't quite get the equaliser.
"I thought we deserved a point at the end of the day. The way we started we were a bit sluggish. It could possibly have been because of the midweek game (against Newcastle in the FA Cup), but we have to be more clinical.
"We don't give up and the fight is there for all to see. We have 11 big games coming up."
