Swansea City vs Norwich City. Sky Bet Championship.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance14,097.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Swansea City and Norwich City at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday | Amankwah Forson's early own goal hands Luke Williams' Swans a home victory.
Saturday 14 September 2024 19:02, UK
Swansea made a winning return to action following the international break after edging out Norwich 1-0 to secure their first league victory in three matches.
Amankwah Forson's fourth-minute own goal was all that separated the sides at the Swansea.com Stadium in a clash between two teams still in early-season transition.
Swansea forward Eom Ji-sung showed no early signs of fatigue after international duty with South Korea. Following long-haul jaunts to Seoul and Oman, the winger emerged as the Swans' main creative outlet in the first half.
It was Eom's inviting early cutback across the Norwich box that earned the home side a fortuitous opener, with Forson was caught wrong-footed to deflect the ball past his own goalkeeper Angus Gunn from six yards out.
That early goal set the tone for an entertaining half with both teams showing a willingness to play on the front foot. Josh Sargent, spearheading the Canaries frontline despite returning early from his USA commitments with an ankle worry, looked the most likely player to cancel out Swansea's lead.
Sergent charged into the Swans box almost immediately after Norwich had fallen behind but saw his powerful drive beaten away by Lawrence Vigouroux, before glancing a headed effort narrowly beyond the far post.
Eom confidently continued to pull the strings for Swansea and his 25-yard dipper sent Gunn scrambling to help the ball over the bar.
After failing to make any inroads in the opening stages of the second half, Norwich turned to young Croatian substitute Ante Crnac for fresh attacking impetus but despite their increasing dominance of possession, Swansea were able to maintain their composure and remained a nagging threat on the break.
Chances would be limited for both sides, although substitute Florian Bianchini was inches away from sealing Swansea the three points, when he desperately threw himself at Ollie Cooper's probing delivery at the far post with 13 minutes remaining.
Norwich attacked with increased urgency in the closing stages and after Sargent's clever back-heel released Borja Sainz, home defender Ben Cabango denied what seemed a certain goal with a perfectly timed last-ditch challenge on the Spaniard.
Sainz had one more final chance to secure the Canaries a point in added time after being picked out by Onel Hernandez, but squandered his finish from eight yards allowing Swansea to claim a hard-fought win.
Swansea's Luke Williams:
"I felt tense throughout the whole game. They created good chances as well but we started well and we were the dominant team in the first half.
Swansea substitute Florian Bianchini could have sealed the win but he was inches away from latching onto an Ollie Cooper delivery that found its way through to the Norwich back post.
"The last 15 minutes were very, very tense and we showed a lot of character to defend and we showed a little bit of everything that we're about.
Norwich's Johannes Hoff Thorup:
"I don't think we looked comfortable enough in the first half and that's for all of us to look into.
"We didn't have the control of the game, we didn't take care of our chances and we invited them in with a silly goal to begin with. No matter how you perform, you can always concede a goal. It's about the response afterwards.
"We created two very good chances five-10 minutes after the goal but the game was too open, there was too much back and forth and we didn't have the control of the game.
"I liked the second half way better, there are still some areas for us to improve and be more effective and show more quality up-front so we could get at least a point from a game like today."
