Report | Coventry City 1 Swansea City 2
Swansea City claimed their first away win of the season as first-half goals from Liam Cullen and Ollie Cooper secured victory over Coventry City at the CBS Arena.
The visitors completely dominated the opening exchanges and took a deserved lead through Cullen’s third goal of the season, before Cooper doubled their lead after a driving run from midfield.
Jack Rudoni quickly halved the deficit for the hosts but the Swans kept their resolve and focus – even when the game was briefly stopped during a torrential second-half rainstorm – to make it back-to-back wins in the Championship.
As had been the case against Norwich, this was three points secured by an all-round team effort, with the likes of Lawrence Vigouroux, Ben Cabango, Josh Tymon and skipper Matt Grimes among those to make key interventions as the Swans further extended an unbeaten run against the Sky Blues that stretches back 43 years.
The Swans had shown a solitary change from their win over Norwich City as Tymon came in for Kyle Naughton at left-back.
Luke Williams had challenged his side to replicate the energy and intensity of their display against Norwich on their travels, having felt the Swans had paid for slow starts at Middlesbrough and West Brom.
They enjoyed a bright opening, Jisung Eom seeing a deflected show saved by Oliver Dovin as part of a good spell of early pressure.
And they took an eighth-minute lead when Cullen steered home a loose ball after Coventry had failed to clear a Grimes corner.
Eom had a shot blocked as the Swans pressed again, before Harry Darling just failed to reach a Cabango knockdown.
Brandon Thomas-Asante dragged wide at the end of a Coventry counter-attack before Vigouroux pushed away a Norman Bassette strike from distance.
But the Swans were firmly on top, regularly forcing errors in possession and pinning their hosts in their own territory.
Darling glanced a header wide from Eom’s outswinging corner before Haji Wright fired straight into Vigouroux’s gloves.
The Swans doubled their lead in the 32nd minute when more good build-up freed Cooper in space. The midfielder drove at the defence before cutting inside to send a low strike just inside the near post.
However, Coventry replied almost immediately, as Rudoni collected a headed clearance on the edge of the box and sent a deflected shot into the bottom corner.
The goal sparked a better spell for the hosts with Vigouroux sending Thomas-Asante’s firm angled drive around his near post.
And the keeper rounded off the half with a stunning stop from Rudoni after the midfielder tried to sweep home the rebound after Bassette’s header had struck the bar.
There was still more drama to come, Ronald rattling the post in stoppage time after Cullen’s cross had been cleared out towards the Brazilian.
But Swansea retained their lead at the interval, with Josh Key firing an effort over the bar shortly after the restart after great battling work by Cooper.
Cullen then headed a flat Grimes free-kick into the arms of Dovin while, at the other end, Tymon made an important clearance as a Jake Bidwell cross ran across the Swansea box.
The hour mark came and went with the once bright sunny skies replaced by menacing dark clouds which unleashed a torrential downpour just before Ephron Mason-Clark’s near-post drive was parried by Vigouroux.
With the rainfall unrelenting and lightning in the air, referee James Linington elected to take the players off the field with just over 65 minutes played.
After a delay of just a handful of minutes the action resumed with Ronald sending the ball at Dovin when he had black shirts up with him in attack.
The visitors initially made the better start after the unexpected stoppage and would confidently negotiate their way through eight minutes of stoppage time to secure the three points.
Coventry City: Oliver Dovin, Luis Binks, Bobby Thomas, Jack Rudoni, Jamie Allen (Victor Torp 24), Haji Wright (Ephron Mason-Clark 46), Jake Bidwell (Jay Dasilva 94), Brandon Thomas-Asante (Tatsuhiro Sakamoto 62) , Milan van Ewijik, Josh Eccles (captain), Norman Bassette (Ellis Simms 62).
Unused Substitutes: Ben Wilson, Ben Sheaf, Liam Kitching, Joel Latibeaudiere.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key, Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Josh Tymon (Kyle Naughton 90); Matt Grimes (captain), Gonçalo Franco (Joe Allen 90), Ollie Cooper (Jay Fulton 90); Jisung Eom (Azeem Abdulai 64), Liam Cullen (Myles Peart-Harris 64); Ronald.
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Žan Vipotnik, Florian Bianchini, Nelson Abbey.
Referee: James Linington
Attendance: 26,273