Swansea City vs Blackburn Rovers. Sky Bet Championship.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance16,632.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Swansea and Blackburn Rovers at the Swansea.com Stadium as goals from Sammie Szmodics, Ben Brereton Diaz and Lewis Travis secured victory.
Saturday 6 August 2022 21:03, UK
Blackburn got an immediate return from their new signing Sammie Szmodics as he opened his account on his debut to set up a 3-0 win over Swansea at the Swansea.Com Stadium.
The 26-year-old played for Peterborough in their 1-0 win over Cheltenham in Sky Bet League One last weekend, but he then agreed a three-year deal with Rovers two days later and was given an early chance to shine by new boss Jon Dahl Tomasson.
There was no Joe Allen in the Swansea line-up as he was given more time to recover from the hamstring strain he picked up playing for Wales against Belgium in the Nations Cup.
He is set to bridge a 10-year gap since leaving his first club next week and make his 151st appearance since joining on a free transfer from Stoke in the summer.
Swansea boss Russell Martin made two changes from the team that had drawn 1-1 at Rotherham in the opening game of the season as he gave Olivier Ntcham and Ryan Manning their first starts.
The home side dominated possession, while Blackburn waited to pounce on the break. Solid at the back, they waited for their moment and it came when Jay Fulton lost the ball midway in his own half.
It was former Swan and Wales international midfielder Ryan Hedges who picked Fulton's pocket as the home side once again attempted to play the ball around their back line.
Once he had possession, Hedges headed straight towards the Swansea goal before squaring to Szmodics, who made no mistake from the edge of the area as he picked his spot in the right corner of Andy Fisher's home goal.
That goal dented the home side's confidence and encouraged Rovers to press forward far more. Swansea opened the second half with three corners, and close-range efforts from Joel Piroe and Michael Obafemi, but they never looked convincing.
Things went from bad to worse for Martin's men when Ben Brereton Diaz outmuscled Joel Latibeaudiere as he raced onto another great ball into space by Hedges and ran 20 metres before chipping over the advancing Fisher for a second goal just before the hour mark.
As the home fans grew more and more frustrated their hopes of seeing at least one goal from their side were thwarted when Tayo Edun cleared off the line as substitute Matty Sorinola looked all set to open his account for his new club.
The final nail in the Swansea coffin was hammered home by Rovers skipper Lewis Travis as the visitors flooded forward in the 84th minute after once again stealing possession.
After carrying into the box, he gave Fisher no chance with a rocket that flew into the top left corner to leave Rovers sitting pretty at the top of the Championship table with two impressive wins from two games.
Swansea's Russell Martin: "We have to take today on the chin and we have to be better. But we aren't going to go to Blackpool next week and changing what we are trying to do. We were punished for mistakes and small details, moments that were not quite good enough. We had so much control. But then we make a mistake, and we follow it up with another one. I said a couple of weeks ago about how we react to mistakes will define what we do, and it defined it today.
"We have to make more of our dominance of the ball. There wasn't enough ball speed in the first half or enough runs to threaten their backline. It's something we need to work on and we'll look at that for sure. Now it's up to us and the guys to work as hard as we can and there wasn't a lack of effort today. Expectancy has gone up from last season and we've had more time to work with the players. We need to stick together, work really hard and try to find solutions to the problems we faced today."
Blackburn's Jon Dahl Tomasson: "The performance was very high class tactically. We worked on this game all week and the way the players controlled the game out of possession against a very good and dangerous team with the ball was very pleasing. When Swansea attacked we were very solid and the players followed the plan like they should do. Maybe they are more tired in the head than in the legs.
"There were three beautiful goals and good transition moments. There was also another clean sheet. I'm very pleased with the performance and for the fans. We had some very good chances, although they needed to be taken."
