Report | Bristol City 0 Swansea City 1
Josh Tymon’s first goal for the club saw Swansea City end their winless run with a hard-fought victory at Ashton Gate.
The wing-back fired in a rebound in the 55th minute in front of the away end to help give the visitors a first win of 2025.
The Swans had spurned big chances through Ronald and Žan Vipotnik towards the end of the first half, while Jisung Eom also missed a glorious opportunity after the opener, while Lawrence Vigouroux made excellent saves to deny Jason Knight and Luke McNally and Sam Bell also hit the post for the hosts.
The visitors defended stoutly to claim a valuable three points, while there was also an eye-catching debut from Lewis O’Brien and outstanding showings from skipper Ben Cabango and Kyle Naughton in defence.
The Swans had shown four changes from defeat to Coventry as new signing Lewis O’Brien came into the team, as well as Naughton, Eom and Vipotnik.
The visitors had some encouraging early moments as Eom and Tymon found space on the flanks, but the first big chance fell the way of the Robins with Scott Twine seeing a pair of efforts blocked with Ben Cabango to the fore.
Vigouroux then made a tremendous save as he managed to divert Knight’s firm header over the bar, after the Republic of Ireland international had met Max Bird’s corner.
McNally failed to make firm contact when he was found unmarked from another Bird delivery, and the on-loan Burnley defender was soon denied by a fingertip stop from Vigouroux, who got down quickly to his left to reach an improvised prod from a free-kick.
Swansea had not carried a real threat in the opening half-hour, but they produced an excellent passage of play sparked by O’Brien’s touch and drive into open space that ended with Ronald firing tamely into Max O’Leary’s gloves from a brilliant Naughton through ball.
Rob Dickie sent a header over the bar at the other end while Vipotnik should have done better when another lovely pass from Naughton put him one on one with the keeper; the Slovenian’s attempted lob landing straight in the hands of O’Leary as the half ended goalless.
Naughton produced two outstanding pieces of covering early in the second half to prevent crosses from Mark Sykes finding a red shirt.
Swansea responded Cullen delivering a hanging cross that Eom could not connect with as Dickie challenged strongly.
The Swans broke the deadlock nine minutes into the second half as Goncalo Franco drove onto a loose ball and found Vipotnik in the box, the striker knocked the ball back into the path of the midfielder, who saw his shot saved.
But the parry fell into the path of Tymon and he made no mistake as he cushioned his volley into the net.
The Robins enjoyed a period of pressure after the goal, but Swansea handled that period well with a Dickie header from a corner the only real chance of note.
In fact, the Swans should have extended their lead when lovely work down the right and a strong challenge from O’Brien allowed the midfielder the room to pick out an unmarked Eom, but he fired straight at O’Leary with the goal at his mercy.
Substitute Sam Bell sent a low shot crashing into the post inside the final 15 minutes, and the hosts continued to press through six minutes of stoppage time, but the Swans held out to claim the three points.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Ben Cabango (captain), Kyle Naughton (Josh Key 73), Hannes Delcroix; Ronald, Gonçalo Franco, Lewis O'Brien, Josh Tymon; Liam Cullen (Ollie Cooper 84), Jisung Eom (Jay Fulton 84); Žan Vipotnik (Florian Bianchini 70).
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Josh Ginnelly, Cyrus Christie, Myles Peart-Harris, Sam Parker.
Bristol City: Max O'Leary, Max Bird, Scott Twine (Harry Cornick 87), Anis Mehmeti (George Earthy 63), Jason Knight (captain), Zak Vyner, Luke McNally (Sam Bell 74), Robert Dickie, Mark Sykes (Yu Hirakawa 87), Nahki Wells (Sinclair Armstrong 63) , Haydon Roberts.
Unused Substitutes: Stefan Bajic, George Tanner, Marcus McGuane, Elijah Morrison.
Referee: John Busby