Swansea City vs Sheffield Wednesday. Sky Bet Championship.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance14,149.
Swansea City 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday: Michael Smith scores winner at the Swansea.com Stadium
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Swansea City and Sheffield Wednesday at the Swansea.com Stadium on Wednesday night;
Wednesday 12 February 2025 23:16, UK
Michael Smith once again came off the bench to score a vital goal for Sheffield Wednesday in their 1-0 win at Swansea.
Smith hammered home from the edge of the area in the 66th minute after man-of-the-match Josh Windass had nipped in to steal a weak pass out of defence by Harry Darling.
The Wednesday skipper drove to the box and then squared to Smith, who notched his eighth goal of the season and his third as a substitute in his last four games.
The win took Danny Rohl's side up to eighth place and to within two points of the Championship play-off places, while the Swans stay in 17th.
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Wednesday applied the early pressure and skipper Windass created the first opening of the game for Ike Ugbo in the ninth minute. A beautifully-struck pass gave Ugbo the chance to burst between two defenders but Darling took the ball off his toe.
Windass continued to make his presence felt and a shot on the turn from the edge of the area whistled past the left post with home keeper Lawrence Vigouroux rooted to the spot.
The Owls skipper was at it again midway through the first half with a cross-shot from the right that beat everyone in the box and went inches past the post.
At the other end Swansea had trouble creating much as they continued to come to terms with the loss of chief playmaker Matt Grimes.
New recruit Lewis O'Brien, on loan from Nottingham Forest, tried his best to initiate some go-forward in midfield, but the only attempts on goal were a long shot from Zan Vipotnik that went way over the bar and a cross from the right by Ronald that had James Beadle scrambling in the Wednesday goal.
Swansea started the second half more brightly and a cross from Ronald on the right was met on the run by Myles Peart-Harris, whose header forced Beadle into his first real save of the game.
After Windass had set up the Smith goal, Wednesday went into cruise control and Vigouroux had to move smartly to stifle another shot from the visiting skipper soon after the goal and then beat away a fierce header from Smith from a corner.
There was almost a sting in the tail when Jay Fulton put the ball in the Wednesday net in the last play of the match in the 94th minute but it was ruled out for offside.
The managers
Swansea's Luke Williams:
"It was quite a dull game and there wasn't too much going on out there. Unfortunately it was an error that cost us and we weren't clinical enough at the other end of the pitch.
"Harry Darling is a very good player and we didn't lose the game because of his mistake. Things like that happen in football and he was a bit down in the dressing room.
"It's disappointing and we needed more creativity to make the breakthrough. We put balls into the box but we only made one decent contact - we just weren't clinical enough.
"When we were in the game at 0-0 we looked pretty solid. If we had picked up a draw it would have been a very different feeling in the dressing room."
Sheffield Wednesday's Danny Rohl:
"I think the win was fully deserved, especially in the second half when we had a lot of good pressing moments. We were very compact, had good pressing and in the right moment we scored.
"We learned from the West Brom game with our game management, especially in the last four or five minutes.
"When a home team has just four shots, I think it shows a lot about how we pressed as a group. This is how we have to play - a clean sheet always gives us the opportunity to win games."
