SWANSEA CITY 1
Eom 79
DERBY COUNTY 0
Swansea City’s interim boss Alan Sheehan admitted “it wasn’t a wonderful game, but it was a wonderful win” after his side conjured up the only goal to beat Derby County.
Ji-sung Eom scored the only goal to push the Swans up to 15th in the table, seven points clear of arch-rivals Cardiff City in the third relegation place.
Defeat for the Rams ended a run of four wins on the trot.
City boss Sheehan offered his verdict on the City’s performance after the match.
Magnitude
He said: “I thought we dealt with their threats, but we’d have liked to cause them more problems when we had the ball.
’Huge credit to John Eustace, he has found a way to win games and we had to try to match their physicality.
“Some of the defensive displays were outstanding, even though the game itself wasn’t very pleasing on the eye.
“I tried to explain the magnitude of this game in the week and I didn’t want to downplay it.
“Derby had won four in a row against teams who are up in the top half of the table, so it was always going to be difficult.
Dogfight
“I said it would be a dogfight.
“Against a big physical team, we had to be more physical and at times, that killed our fluidity.
“But it’s a fine balance to go and win a game against a team who are down there fighting and have a formula to win games at the moment.
“At times in the first half, we forced things; we went from back to front too quickly when the spaces were somewhere else.
“We found it hard to create tempo in the game because when you defend long throw after long throw, it’s difficult.“
SWANS-GLEE: Eom Ji-Sung is joined by his Swansea team-mates after scoring their winner
PICTURE: Alamy
SHIELD: Ben Cabango stands strong
Match action
Derby used the long throw of full-back Craig Forsyth to pile on the pressure in the first half, and one of his efforts from the sideline almost forced an error in the home ranks.
Goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux misjudged the flight, and he was happy to see the ball scrambled away for a corner.
There were no shots on target from either side in the first half, and it took 69 minutes before Swansea registered their first attempt on goal – a high, wide and not very handsome strike from 25 yards by Lewis O’Brien.
In a game of very little quality, there was plenty of bumping and barging, but very little to commend in what turned into a classic relegation battle.
Eom, a second-half substitute, sent a tame header at the far post wide of the mark, and three minutes later, a great run up the right flank by Kane Wilson set up a shooting chance for Harrison Armstrong from just outside the box.
His first-time effort brought the first save of the match as Vigouroux collected low down.
Eom finally struck at the far post after 79 minutes as he bundled home a cross from the right by Josh Key. The goal came from only the third attempt on goal of the match by Swansea.
There was one final chance for Derby on the stroke of 90 minutes when Kayden Jackson raced onto a ball in the box and was just thwarted by three home defenders.
Star Man – Ben Cabango (Swansea City)
Cardiff City
Omer Riza is proud of his Cardiff City troops
Championship
OLIVER’S SET FOR BIG STEP
