Report | Swansea City 3 Peterborough United 0
Swansea City made it four home wins on the bounce as three first-half goals saw Russell Martin’s side ease past Peterborough United at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Jake Bidwell opened the scoring inside two minutes, with Joel Piroe and Olivier Ntcham also on the scoresheet for the hosts as they also registered another clean sheet.
The winning margin could, and perhaps should, have been greater, but there was no disputing Swansea’s dominance as they enjoyed 66 per cent of possession and completed over 92 per cent of their 770 passes as they had 13 shots to the visitors’ two.
The result moved the Swans into 13th place in the table, but just two points off the play-off spots with a third of the campaign in the book.
Head coach Martin had made just one change from the defeat at Birmingham as Jake Bidwell came in for Joel Latibeaudiere, while Flynn Downes was fit enough for a place on the bench after a hamstring complaint.
And it was Bidwell who gave the Swans the perfect start with the opener coming with just 86 seconds on the clock.
Ryan Bennett’s lofted pass sent Ethan Laird into space down the right, and the wing-back showed composure and patience to ultimately pick out the run of Bidwell at the far post, where he finished from point-blank range.
Ryan Manning then drilled wide after Matt Grimes had teed him up from a free-kick on the edge of the box.
Piroe then got in on the act by doubling the Swansea lead in the 13th minute. The visitors gave the ball away cheaply and Manning seized on it to quickly feed the Dutchman.
He turned infield and quickly got away a right-footed strike that left former Swan David Cornell rooted to the spot as it flew inside the right-hand upright.
That was Piroe’s ninth goal of the season, and the 10th should have quickly followed but he fired over from a Bidwell knockdown.
Peterborough had offered no threat, but they did work Ben Hamer in the 27th minute as Siriki Dembele kicked off a fine attack that ended with Nathan Thompson being denied by the Swans keeper.
It wasn’t long before Swansea were on the front foot again, Grimes finding Laird’s run with a lovely reverse pass, only for a desperate challenge to rob the loan signing of possession as he looked to work room for a shot.
The hosts were in total control, and had Laird been more alert to a cleverly disguised Jamie Paterson pass then he would have been in prime position to open his goalscoring account for Swansea, but he was just caught on his heels.
Laird was enjoying himself and he skipped into the box after a lovely build-up, but Paterson was denied the chance to get a strike away.
But the Swans rounded off the half with their third as Piroe’s lovely turn and pass sent Ntcham racing in on goal to calmly find the far corner in stoppage time.
Despite the handsome advantage, Martin and his side would have been well aware from their own comeback at Luton that a three-goal interval lead is no guarantee of three points, and they picked up where they left off after the break with Bidwell nearly teeing up Ntcham.
Piroe then robbed Ronnie Edwards of the ball in the Posh box and rounded Cornell, but found himself with too tight an angle from which to shoot, and his pull-back for Paterson was cut out.
Chances kept coming, substitute Michael Obafemi forcing a good stop from Cornell after being fed by Paterson.
The same combination worked Obafemi in on goal again soon after, but Cornell was again equal to the task, before Grimes dragged an effort wide.
But the contest had long been settled in Swansea's favour.
Swansea City: Ben Hamer; Ryan Bennett, Kyle Naughton, Ryan Manning; Ethan Laird (Morgan Whittaker 79), Korey Smith, Matt Grimes (captain), Jake Bidwell; Jamie Paterson; Olivier Ntcham (Flynn Downes 73); Joel Piroe (Michael Obafemi 63).
Unused Substitutes: Steven Benda, Ben Cabango, Morgan Whittaker, Liam Cullen, Joel Latibeaudiere.
Peterborough United: David Cornell, Ronnie Edwards, Nathan Thompson, Mark Beevers (captain), Samuel Szmodics, Jack Taylor, Siriki Dembele, Jorge Grant (Jonson Clarke-Harris 53), Harrison Burrows (Daniel Butler 45), Oliver Norburn, Idris Kanu (Joseph Ward 59).
Unused Substitutes: William Blackmore, Frankie Kent, Conor Coventry, Joseph Ward.
Referee: Matthew Donohue
Attendance: 16, 639
