Report | Portsmouth 4 Swansea City 0
Swansea City started 2025 with a defeat as they were well-beaten by Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
The Swans were punished for a sloppy first-half display, with Josh Murphy and Paddy Lane gratefully capitalising for Pompey.
The visitors had a flurry of chances in a better spell either side of the interval, with Florian Bianchini missing two good opportunities and Josh Tymon rattling the woodwork.
But any hopes of a comeback were firmly ended when Ryley Towler headed in Portsmouth’s third just beyond the hour mark, with Colby Bishop going on to round off the scoring.
It was a desperately disappointing way to follow up exhilarating wins against Queens Park Rangers and Luton Town, particularly in front of sold-out away end who had made the long journey to the south coast.
And, even allowing for this being a third game in just six days, head coach Luke Williams and his players will be bitterly disappointed having spoken of the need to build on their previous festive performances and be consistent.
The Swans showed two changes from the win over Luton Town as Goncalo Franco was ruled out by the facial injury he suffered against the Hatters, while Josh Key dropped to the bench.
Jay Fulton and Kyle Naughton took their places, while Joe Allen was fit enough for a place on the bench.
The visitors were looking for a third win in a row but they struggled to make an early impression in sodden conditions.
There was little to choose between the teams in the opening exchanges, with little in the way clear-cut chances.
Zak Swansea sent an effort wide for the hosts, while Ronald nearly picked out Fulton from a superb Matt Grimes pass.
But the opener went Portsmouth’s way when Liam Cullen found himself isolated and, after the home side had stolen the ball, Swanson drove forward and whipped in a cross to the back post, where Murphy arrived to rifle the ball high into the net with a first-time effort.
From that point, the hosts began to take a grip of the game, with Grimes relieved to see the ball roll just wide of the post after he had blocked Colby Bishop’s misdirected effort from close range.
Swansea looked to respond, lovely control from Cullen setting Fulton up to find the side-netting, but the second goal for the hosts soon arrived.
The ball was lobbed back towards the box after being cleared, but the Swans did not deal with it and Lane snuck in between two defenders to find the far corner.
The visitors needed a response and, after Cullen had guided a difficult header onto the roof of the net from Tymon’s fizzing cross, Bianchini sent a free header straight at the keeper from Jisung Eom’s pinpoint delivery just moments before the interval.
Ronald had a deflected shot saved by Nico Schmid early in the second half, with the Brazilian then seeing a threatening cross cut out with Fulton waiting.
Bianchini was unable to make a proper connection with another good ball into the area as Swansea enjoyed an extended spell of pressure.
Harry Darling then fired the ball over as he met Eom’s corner, before the Korean was slipped in down the left side of the area, but ran out of room from a tight angle and saw his shot blocked by the advancing Schmid.
Darling headed into the keeper’s gloves from the resulting corner and Swansea went closer still when Eom’s clever reverse pass found Tymon’s overlapping run, and the full-back hammered a shot against the underside of the bar and out.
But, having failed to make the most of those opportunities, the Swans conceded from Portsmouth’s first effort of the half as Towler got across the front of his marker to steer home a header from a free-kick with 29 minutes to play.
Vigouroux made fine saves to prevent Callum Lang and Murphy further adding to the scoreline.
Bianchini found the net with a header, but was clearly offside from Tymon’s cross and the flag was quickly raised.
Zan Vipotnik was soon on in Bianchini’s place and the Slovenian glanced a head inches wide from another Tymon delivery.
Swansea’s day soon got worse. Ben Cabango had to come off after treatment and, within seconds of his departure, Bishop added Portsmouth’s fourth from close range to cap a miserable afternoon.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Kyle Naughton (Cyrus Christie 65), Ben Cabango (Josh Key 78), Harry Darling, Josh Tymon; Matt Grimes (captain), Jay Fulton (Myles Peart-Harris 65), Liam Cullen; Ronald, Jisung Eom; Florian Bianchini (Žan Vipotnik 73)
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Joe Allen, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Ben Lloyd, Azeem Abdulai.
Portsmouth: Nico Schmid, Connor Ogilvie, Ryley Towler, Marlon Pack (captain), Freddie Potts, Colby Bishop (Christian Saydee 90), Andre Dozzell, Zak Swanson, Josh Murphy (Terry Devlin 84), Paddy Lane (Matt Ritchie 71), Callum Lang (Elias Sorensen 90).
Unused Substitutes: Jordan Archer, Jordan Williams, Tom McIntyre, Owen Moxen, Sam Silvera.
Referee: James Linington
Attendance: 20,427