Swansea City 0 - 1 Bristol City

Swansea lost their first Home game of the season to a in-form Bristol
side. The Swans may have had what Brendon Rodgers could only describe
as an “off day” because just a few days before they played in the
South Wales derby.

Bristol scored the only goal of the match inside 5 minutes. A shot
from Campbell Ryce saw a reaction save from de Vries however Jon Stead
capitalised and put the ball in the back of the net. For the rest of
the first half Swansea’s performance was poor with loose balls every
time the midfield had possession.

Bristol’s defender Jamie McAllister was lucky to not see yellow after
a tough challenge on Pratley, however 5 minutes later he didn’t step
back 10 yards from a free kick and after complaining to the referee
for a while he received a booking. In the second half he again was
very lucky to not see a card when he appeared to elbow Dyer in the
head. He was later substituted  for Skuse for an apparent stomach bug
problem that Kieth Millen commented on saying “he doesn’t feel too
well at the moment.”

Bristol constantly supplied lovely crosses into the box, and they were
unlucky to not receive a second goal, especially when Adomah hit the
crossbar from a ridiculous angle. Towards the end of the first half
Swansea had their first decent chance when Dyer slipped a tidy ball
towards Sinclair but a poor shot left Swansea yet to hit the Score
sheet.

The start of the second half saw 2 changes for the home side with Joe
Allen and Mark Gower replacing Darren Pratley and Stephen Dobbie
respectively.  These changes were made to address Swansea’s problem of
loose passing in the middle. This did clear up play but Swansea
couldn’t convert their chances.

Dyer played particularly well in the second showing his pace and
agility on the wing. Chances from free kicks and corners flooded in
for Swansea as Bristol looked set to sit tight and defend their one
goal margin. Ashley Williams had a good chance with a head from Mark
Gower’s free kick. Emnes beat the offside flag to leave a one on one
chance but shot too late whilst the defence caught back up. The home
side were unlucky when a corner saw David James beaten and the defence
scrambled to clear the ball off the line.

Approaching full time saw Bristol almost adopt an 8 man defence
formation as they did everything to stop Swansea from scoring to
salvage a point from this match. The final chance was headed over the
bar by Ashley Williams after a decent cross from Sinclair.

Swansea City    0-1    Bristol City (FT)

HT (0-1) ,  Stead (5)

Nick Lockley