Report | Cardiff City 0 Swansea City 2
Jamal Lowe secured the South Wales derby bragging rights for Swansea City as the striker’s brace settled matters at Cardiff City Stadium.
Lowe opened the scoring in the sixth minute, firing home from close range to give the Swans the ideal start.
And he went on to seal the win with 18 minutes to go with a fantastic slaloming run through the Cardiff defence.
The result means Swansea are now unbeaten in four South Wales derbies, and have not conceded a goal in any of that quartet of fixtures.
This was also a 10th clean sheet of the season as the Swans ended Cardiff’s run of four Championship wins in a row, with the home side ending with 10 men after Joe Ralls was dismissed in the second half.
And a dominant performance delivered on the promise from Steve Cooper and his players to deliver for their supporters, despite them not being able to cheer on their side in person.
Swansea had Marc Guehi and Ryan Bennett back from injury, while Jay Fulton also came into the side to bolster the midfield area.
The Swans enjoyed plenty of ball in the early going, spending a number of minutes probing around the edge of the Cardiff area.
And the Swans scored with less than six minutes on the clock through Lowe.
Nice link work down the left allowed Jake Bidwell to loft a high cross to the back post, Connor Roberts headed across goal and Lowe guided it in as the ball squirmed under Alex Smithies in the Cardiff goal.
Lowe nearly turned provider a few moments later, but just over-hit his final pass for the run of Matt Grimes.
The Swans were the far more fluid side, and Roberts had a cross cut out after Lowe and Andre Ayew had pulled the home defence out of shape.
The wing-back then had a shot blocked after more patient Swansea build-up, before Smithies palmed a Grimes strike from distance onto the post after a clever short-corner routine.
The Swans had been largely untroubled, but they were guilty of nearly giving away what would have been a self-inflicted equaliser 20 minutes in.
Possession was surrendered near the edge of the box, with Guehi blocking a Kieffer Moore shot, and Bennett escaping a potential second booking for fouling the striker as he cut past him.
Harry Wilson put the resulting free-kick wide, but the visitors were soon back on the front foot as Lowe got away near the byline but saw his cross for Ayew cut out by Sean Morrison.
The Ghanaian went on to volley straight at Smithies from around 25 yards.
The Swans retained the lead at the break, and had a chance to extend their lead when a Roberts cross fell for Bidwell, but he could not control his attempted volley at the far stick.
Cardiff then lost Moore to injury after his improvised backheel had bounced up and over the bar from Will Vaulks’ long throw, Robert Glatzel replacing the striker.
The hosts were starting to enjoy a better spell, and Sheyi Ojo fired over after cutting inside onto his left foot just past the hour mark.
Freddie Woodman then held a looping header from Curtis Nelson before the hosts were reduced to 10 men as Ralls received a second yellow card for a challenge on Korey Smith.
And Lowe then killed the game off with his sublime second.
Swansea broke from a loose Cardiff pass with Lowe shaping inside Vaulks before driving forward.
He evaded Wilson’s attempted foul, and steered the ball into the bottom corner with the outside of his right foot.
Glatzel headed a good chance wide at the other end, before Lowe went agonisingly close to a hat-trick as he curled just wide on a day to remember for the Swans.
Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Kyle Naughton, Ryan Bennett, Marc Guehi; Connor Roberts, Korey Smith, Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (captain), Jake Bidwell; Andre Ayew, Jamal Lowe (Wayne Routledge 86).
Unused Substitutes: Steven Benda, Ryan Manning, Joel Latibeaudiere, Ben Cabango, Yan Dhanda, Kasey Palmer, Viktor Gyokeres, Liam Cullen.
Cardiff City: Alex Smithies; Leandro Bacuna, Curtis Nelson, Sean Morrison (captain), Joe Bennett; Harry Wilson, Joe Ralls, Will Vaulks (Gavin Whyte 89); Sheyi Ojo; Mark Harris (Marlon Pack 77), Kieffer Moore (Robert Glatzel 55).
Unused Substitutes: Dillon Phillips, Josh Murphy, Filip Benkovic, Greg Cunningham, Sol Bamba, Joel Bagan.
Referee: John Brooks
