Report | Sunderland 0 Swansea City 1
Ben Cabango’s goal helped Swansea City complete a perfect week with another victory and clean sheet against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
The skipper was on hand to tun the ball home after Harry Darling’s header had struck the woodwork just before the hour mark on Wearside, and it proved enough to settle the contest.
It was no more than the Swans deserved for another fine performance, and they could have led earlier with Lewis O’Brien having a flurry of first-half chances.
And they then defended resolutely as they backed up the wins without conceding over Derby and Plymouth and extended their unbeaten run at this ground, which stretches back to 2012.
The victory moves the Swans into the top half of the table as they continued their late-season revival.
Caretaker head coach Alan Sheehan had made two changes from the midweek win over Plymouth as Liam Cullen and Jay Fulton came back into the team as Joe Allen and Zan Vipotnik dropped to the bench.
The Black Cats, meanwhile, had brought in Patrick Roberts, Wilson Isidor and Harrison Jones following their draw at Norwich.
The Swans should have led with less than two minutes played after slick build-up allowed Jisung Eom to deliver a cross that caused a scramble in the home defence, with Lewis O’Brien volleying straight into Anthony Patterson’s gloves from 12 yards.
Sunderland then briefly thought they had taken the lead when Wilson Isidor got in behind the Swans defence to slot home, but the offside flag had already been correctly raised.
It was a frantic opening, and Cullen was soon agonisingly close to meeting Josh Key’s cross from the right as he arrived just outside the six-yard box.
O’Brien then headed wide from a Ronald cross, a chance which was almost a mirror image of the goal he scored against Plymouth.
Indeed, other than the disallowed goal the Swans had made all the early running and O’Brien was soon involved again when he picked off a loose pass but sent his angled shot high and wide of the target.
But Lawrence Vigouroux was called into action just before the half-hour when he foiled Tommy Watson’s effort after the winger had dispossessed Key in the Swansea area.
From that point the remainder of the opening half was more evening, but being level at the interval was the very least the Swans deserved for a strong first-half showing.
They also threatened early in the second period, with Cullen unable to find O’Brien in support after bringing down Key’s cross.
Ronald then sent a left-footed effort wide after a raking pass from Harry Darling had given him the room to take on and cut inside Trai Hume.
And they took the lead in the 58th minute when Darling crashed a header against the crossbar and Cabango was on hand to force the rebound home from close range.
Sunderland surged forward in search of a response, and excellent defending allowed Swansea to crowd out Watson when a deflected shot fell for him in the area and then clear their lines.
Isidor got away a shot on the right of the area, but with three white shirts onrushing, there was no chance that Vigouroux would need to make a save.
Wave after wave of red and white attacks followed, but the Swans stood stubbornly firm to cap off an excellent week with another positive performance and result.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key, Ben Cabango (captain), Harry Darling, Josh Tymon; Jay Fulton (Ollie Cooper 68), Goncalo Franco (Joe Allen 84), Lewis O’Brien; Ronald (Florian Bianchini 84), Jisung Eom (Kyle Naughton 93), Liam Cullen (Žan Vipotnik 67)
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Cyrus Christie, Ben Lloyd, Sam Parker.
Sunderland: Anthony Patterson, Dan Neil (captain) (Salis Abdul Samed 74), Alan Browne (Leo Hjelde 84), Patrick Roberts, Chris Rigg (Enzo Le Fee 58), Wilson Isidor, Luke O'Nien, Chris Mepham, Trai Hume, Tommy Watson (Milan Aleksic 74), Harrison Jones (Eliezer Mayenda 58).
Unused Substitutes: Simon Moore, Joe Anderson, Thomas Lavery, Oliver Rainbridge.
Referee: Farai Hallam