Report | Swansea City 2 Bristol City 0
Goals from Liam Cullen and Olivier Ntcham saw Swansea City deservedly return to winning ways with victory over Bristol City at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Russell Martin’s side had much the better of the opening half and claimed the lead when Cullen steered in his seventh goal of the season 11 minutes before the break.
Joel Piroe hit the post early in the second half, but Ntcham made sure of the points when he showed great composure to convert his sixth goal of the campaign.
It was no less than Swansea deserved, as they got the reward their improved recent showings have deserved.
Ntcham and Liam Walsh were outstanding in the middle of the park, while the Swans back four looked assured as they claimed a clean sheet as Martin and his side head into the international break following a positive display and outcome.
The hosts had named an unchanged XI from the midweek game at Millwall, although they did have Ollie Cooper back on the bench following a knock.
The Swans made a lively start, Joel Piroe firing high and wide from eight yards inside the opening 15 seconds.
Walsh and Luke Cundle nearly combined to send the former in on goal a few moments later.
Walsh was proving influential and Liam Cullen should have done better when a lovely outside-of-the-foot pass from the midfielder found the striker unmarked, but his first touch allowed keeper Max O’Leary to gather easily.
Ryan Manning saw a shot blocked following a sweeping move involving Ntcham and Walsh as the Swans threatened again.
At the other end, Mark Sykes produced a good driving run and cross, and then worked Andy Fisher with a drive from distance that the Swans keeper easily gathered.
Swansea’s best chance yet came just before the half hour, Matt Grimes’ superb ball to the far post being met by Harry Darling. The defender’s header was parried by O’Leary, and Walsh then saw his follow-up blocked by Cameron Pring.
But the Swans did take the lead in the 34th minute through Cullen.
Swansea built patiently from the back, and when Walsh drilled the ball into Ntcham, the Cameron international fed the Kilgetty product to steer the ball into the far corner of the net.
Harry Cornick sent Jay Dasilva’s cross flying over the bar, while a brilliant run from Nathan Wood ended with Manning rolling a ball agonisingly across the six-yard box as the Swans retained the lead at the break.
The visitors made a change during the interval as Andreas Weimann came on for George Tanner as Nigel Pearson sought a response from his side.
But Swansea continued to carry a threat, Piroe seeing a drive deflected wide after he had seized on a poor defensive header, while Ntcham’s shot was blocked from a clever routine at the resulting corner.
Cullen went close to his second of the afternoon, scooping over from Walsh’s clever flick, while Walsh’s superb delivery from another corner somehow evaded several white shirts in the six-yard box.
Swansea were zipping the ball about superbly, and a lovely build-up ended with Piroe glancing a header against the post as he beat Dasilva to a deep cross from Cundle.
Cundle was then unable to bring in another incisive ball from Walsh while Omar Taylor-Clarke fired into Fisher’s grateful gloves at the other end after a loose pass from substitute Jamie Paterson.
Ben Cabango survived handball appeals when Weimann attempted to flick the ball over him in the area as the temperature began to ramp up heading into the final 20 minutes.
Paterson drilled into the side-netting at the end of a swift attack including Piroe and Cooper, before O’Leary got down to gather in Ntcham’s drive from distance.
But the Cameroon international would not be denied again, showing great composure to turn after a Paterson cross had been headed clear and guide the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
Paterson nearly made it three, seeing his effort from Manning’s pull-back deflected agonisingly wide but it did not matter in the final analysis.
Swansea City: Andy Fisher; Harry Darling, Ben Cabango, Nathan Wood, Ryan Manning; Liam Walsh (Ollie Cooper 72), Matt Grimes (captain); Luke Cundle (Morgan Whittaker 72), Joel Piroe, Olivier Ntcham (Matty Sorinola 90); Liam Cullen (Jamie Paterson 62).
Unused Substitutes: Andreas Søndergaard, Kyle Naughton, Cameron Congreve.
Bristol City: Max O'Leary, Jay Dasilva, Alex Scott, Harry Cornick (Anis Mehmeti 62), Andy King, Cameron Pring, Mark Sykes, George Tanner (Andreas Weimann 46), Sam Bell (Nahki Wells 68), Zak Vyner (captain), Omar Taylor-Clarke (Kane Wilson 80).
Unused Substitutes: Nikita Haikin, Duncan Idehen, Callum Wood.
Referee: Jeremy Simpson
Attendance: 16,730