02 November 2021

Swansea earn first away win in five games to end Coventry’s unbeaten home record

02 November 2021

Jamie Paterson struck against his hometown club as Swansea handed Coventry their first home league defeat of the season.

The Swans found themselves 2-0 up inside a lightning 15 minutes through Paterson and Joel Piroe before Kyle McFadzean’s header halved the deficit before the half-hour mark.

The 2-1 win was just the second time Russell Martin’s side had won away this season and moved the Welsh side into the top half of the table for the first time this campaign, whilst the Sky Blues suffered a first league defeat at home since March 2019.

Swansea, unchanged from the 3-0 dismantling of Peterborough at the weekend, opened the scoring inside five minutes after Coventry-born Paterson clinically slotted home inside the box.

Jake Bidwell’s cross was half cleared by Jake Clarke-Salter and the forward was on hand to net his third goal in five games with a first-time finish out of the reach of Simon Moore.

Matt Grimes nearly doubled the lead before the clock hit double figures when his whipped free-kick narrowly missed Moore’s left-hand post before Piroe claimed his ninth Sky Bet Championship goal of the season.

Oliver Ntcham set Manchester United loanee Ethan Laird free down the right and the wing-back cut inside and found the Dutch striker on the penalty spot.

He was given time to shift the ball onto his left foot before his deflected effort evaded Moore into the corner of the goal, the first time the Sky Blues had conceded twice at home in the league this season.

The visitors dominated the ball in the opening minutes but goalkeeper Ben Hamer had to be alert to clear the danger when Matt Godden was played through on goal.

But Mark Robins’ men weathered the early storm and McFadzean slammed home Gustavo Hamer’s cross on 27 minutes to end a frantic opening half an hour.

Callum O’Hare could have caught out Swans’ stopper Ben Hamer twice before the break, the former Leicester man smothering his attempted chip before the former Villa midfielder scuffed his effort after Hamer’s poor clearance.

Coventry looked for an equaliser after the break but top scorer Viktor Gyokeres couldn’t connect with Ian Maatsen’s cross at the back post, leaving him without a goal in his last five league games.

Swansea came closest to adding to the scoreline in the second half when Bidwell headed Grimes’ corner against the bar, but hung on despite later Coventry pressure to claim their first away win since a 1-0 victory against Bristol City on 20 August.

Fankaty Dabo forced Hamer into his best save of the night in injury time when his left-footed effort was tipped over the crossbar.

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