Report | Blackburn Rovers 1 Swansea City 0
Swansea City fell to defeat at Ewood Park as Tyrhys Dolan’s early goal gave Blackburn Rovers all three points.
Dolan found the net thanks to a deflected strike from a corner and, while Swansea had plenty of territory and possession, they were unable to find an equaliser.
Florian Bianchini spurned their best chance in the first half, while Liam Cullen looped a header over the bar and Goncalo Franco dragged an effort wide on an afternoon of frustration in Lancashire.
The Swans had shown two changes from the draw with Stoke. Bianchini was handed his first Championship start in place of the injured Jisung Eom, while Cullen returned to lead the line.
In a scrappy opening Rovers had the first chance when Todd Cantwell steered into the side-netting after the midfielder’s original corner had only been half-cleared by the visitors.
At the other end, a driving run from Matt Grimes teed up an attack that ended with Josh Key’s cross just dropping wide at the far post.
But the hosts took the lead in the 13th minute when Dolan arrived at the far post to meet Cantwell’s deep corner and fire a deflected strike beyond Lawrence Vigouroux.
Bianchini had a low effort blocked at the far post a few minutes later before Key cut into the area, but could not pick out another black shirt as defenders converged around him.
The Frenchman then missed a golden chance to level on the half-hour mark. Patient build-up ended with the Swans working Key into space on the right side of the area, but Bianchini could not get any sort of meaningful connection on the fizzed cross to him at the back post.
Ronald headed wide from a fantastic Grimes free-kick delivery as the Swans penned the hosts deep in their own half but struggled to craft clear chances as they returned to the dressing rooms at the interval a goal down.
They were nearly two goals down within seconds of the restart when Ryan Hedges flashed a strike wide of the far post from just inside the 18-yard box.
Ben Cabango then made a terrific covering tackle after Rovers had beaten the Swans offside trap.
But Swansea responded, the host having to scramble clear after substitute Azeem Abdulai and Josh Tymon had combined well down the left.
Cullen then headed over a cross from Ronald after the Brazilian had cut inside.
Swansea were ramping up the pressure, and Franco snatched at a good chance when Ronald knocked down an Abdulai cross 12 yards out.
Into the final 20 minutes and still the visitors searched for a leveller, but as they committed more and more forward in attack, so the hosts had chances to counter, and Vigouroux denied Andreas Weimann from such an opportunity.
Grimes had a volley blocked when Tymon pulled a free-kick back to him on the edge of the box, while fine covering from Owen Beck prevented Ronald having a simple finish at the far post.
Harry Darling had a glancing header saved by Aynsley Pears and then Key saw his cross flash across the face of goal in the final seconds as the hunt for an equaliser came up short.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key, Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Josh Tymon; Matt Grimes (captain), Gonçalo Franco (Joe Allen 72), Ollie Cooper (Žan Vipotnik 65); Ronald, Liam Cullen (Myles Peart-Harris 72), Florian Bianchini (Azeem Abdulai 53).
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Jay Fulton, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Kyle Naughton, Nelson Abbey.
Blackburn Rovers: Aynsley Pears, Dominic Hyam, Sondre Tronstad, Todd Cantwell (Lewis Baker 90), Makhtar Gueye (Yuki Ohashi 59), Tyrhys Dolan (Andreas Weimann 71), Joe Rankin-Costello, Hayden Carter, Ryan Hedges (Callum Brittain 71), Owen Beck, Lewis Travis (captain).
Unused Substitutes: Balazs Toth, Harry Pickering, Arnor Sigurdsson, Danny Batth, John Buckley.
Referee: David Webb
Attendance: 13,550 (466 away)