Report | Swansea City 1 Cardiff City 1
The spoils were shared in the south Wales derby as Callum Robinson's goal cancelled out Liam Cullen's opener at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Lifelong Jack Cullen netted the opener – and his third goal in three south Wales Derbies – after just nine minutes as he turned in when Ethan Horvath parried a Ronald volley.
But Robinson denied the Swans a sixth win in seven derbies when he swept home from an Ollie Tanner cutback.
The hosts had control for long spells of the contest, particualrly in the first half, and pressed relentlessly out of possession with Matt Grimes and Goncalo Franco excellent in midfield.
But they will rue not grabbing a second goal from several promising positions.
The Swans had named an unchanged side from their 3-0 win over Preston North End, with Joe Allen fit enough for a place on the bench and new signings Nelson Abbey and Florian Bianchini among the substitutes.
It proved a typically fast and frenetic start with little time for either side to settle on the ball.
Cullen had the first shot on goal after getting on to a looping forward header from Ben Cabango, and that led to a period where the Swans began to dominate the ball and pen the visitors back.
And the Swans took the lead as Cullen helped himself to his third goal in three south Wales derby starts.
Franco seized on a loose ball in midfield and quickly found Josh Tymon. The full-back’s cross was initially sliced by Cullen, and Ronald’s follow-up volley was saved by Ethan Horvath. But Cullen was on hand to turn the ball in from the keeper’s parry.
Swansea came forward again, Jisung Eom, Josh Key and Ollie Cooper linking well, only for the final pass to have too much on it for the marauding full-back.
Cabango cleared a dangerous Yakou Meite cross on a rare Cardiff counter before Swansea swept up the other end with Ronald, only for the Brazilian to be run out of road by covering blue shirts.
Brilliantly slick build-up work then allowed Tymon to produce a peach of a delivery that Eom was so close to meeting as Horvath hesitated.
It was all Swansea, and it took an unseen handball by Calum Chambers to prevent Ronald reaching a superb Key cross, although Wilfried Kanga did loft an effort high and wide of the target a few moments later.
Cardiff had a better spell at the end of the opening half, but the hosts retained their lead at the break having enjoyed nearly 70 per cent of the ball.
The teams were unchanged for the start of the second period but Swansea were quickly on the front foot when a switch of play from Grimes allowed Ronald to drive infield and send a strike from distance well over the bar.
More lovely play involving Grimes, Franco and Ronald soon had the winger trying his luck again, but he could not keep his effort down.
Swansea were switched on at the back too, Cullen alert to head away an Aaron Ramsey free-kick into the danger area.
Harry Darling nodded Eom’s free-kick wide at the other end, but the defender had strayed offside as the ball came in.
Cardiff had a big let-off just beyond the hour mark when Callum O’Dowda failed to spot Cullen waiting as he took a free-kick back towards his own goal; the Swans forward just unable to find Ronald’s careering run into the box with his final pass.
The visitors saw substitute Rubin Colwill loft an inviting cross to the far post, but there were no blue shirts waiting and Swansea cleared as the game entered its final quarter.
Franco saw his shot blocked away for a corner after Ronald had again helped the Swans beat Cardiff’s press, with Darling nodding the resulting set-piece straight at Horvath.
But Robinson secured a point for the visitors when he found the bottom corner with 12 minutes to play.
Cardiff boss Erol Bulut was shown a red card following a touchline melee in the closing stages as it ended all-square.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key (Kyle Naughton 78), Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Josh Tymon; Matt Grimes (captain), Gonçalo Franco (Jay Fulton 67), Ollie Cooper (Žan Vipotnik 67); Jisung Eom (Azeem Abdulai 58), Liam Cullen (Joe Allen 78), Ronald.
Unused Substitutes: Nathan Broome, Kristian Pedersen, Florian Bianchini, Nelson Abbey.
Cardiff City: Ethan Horvath, Manolis Siopsis, Jesper Daland, Aaron Ramsey (captain), Callum O'Dowda, Calum Chambers, Wilfried Kanga (Callum Robinson 73), Chris Willock (Anwar El Ghazi 73), Alex Robertson (Rubin Colwill 59), Yakou Meite (Ollie Tanner 69), Perry Ng.
Unused Substitutes: Jak Alnwick, Dimitrios Goutas, Joel Bagan, Andy Ronomhota, Cian Ashford.
Referee: Oliver Langford
Attendance: 20,174