Swansea 1-0 Bristol City: Swans defeat Robins to move closer to play-offs | OneFootball

Swansea City continued their superb home form in the Championship this afternoon as they picked up a 1-0 win over playoff hopefuls Bristol City.

Zan Vipotnik scored his 16th goal of the season with a first-half volley, extending the Swans’ unbeaten run at the Swansea.Com stadium to eight matches.

The Robins missed yet another opportunity to return to the top six, and could slip several places lower if later results go against them.

As It Happened

Gerhard Struber, who was banned from the touchline for this clash, named five changes to his Bristol City side following their 2-2 draw with Wrexham on Tuesday night, with Noah Eile and Delano Burgzorg being handed their first starts as well as George Earthy, Jason Knight and Sinclair Armstrong returning to The Robins XI.

When the lineup was released, many Bristol City fans thought it was a change of system due to Earthy’s introduction, but the early stages showed that not to be the case with the West Ham loanee operating more as a wing-back than a number 10.

Meanwhile, Swansea made three changes as Jay Fulton, Melker Widell and Gustavo Nunes replaced Liam Cullen, Ronald and Marko Stamenic.

Armstrong produced the first chance of the game as he burst past Ben Cabango in the Swans defence and clipped the near post.

The forward was at the heart of things once again just minutes later as he won a free-kick in a wide area for the visitors.

With 17 minutes on the clock, Earthy fired over from just outside the area as The Robins continued to push for an opener.

The away side won the first corner of the contest on the 20 minute mark but both Earthy and Knight saw their efforts on goal blocked off the back of it.

After a few stoppages due to injuries, Swansea City found the opener and to little surprise it was the league’s top scorer Zan Vipotnik who found the net with an impressive volley inside the area, giving his side the lead with their first shot on target of the afternoon.

Tomi Horvat looked to get the away side back level almost straight away but his left-footed strike couldn’t find the bottom corner.

As the first-half drew to a close, both sides continued to search for a goal with balls somehow avoiding multiple attackers at both ends of the pitch.

Widell picked up the first yellow card of the game for a foul on Earthy in the visitors half, before Earthy was booked for a foul on Widell.

The resulting free-kick was floated wide by Ji-Sung Eom, bringing the first 45 to a close.

Bristol City started the second-half strongly, winning themselves a corner and pressing high up the pitch. Shortly after, the hosts made their first change of the afternoon as Ronald replaced Nunes, who hadn’t been at his usual best this afternoon.

Bristol City responded with two changes of their own as Max Bird and Scott Twine replaced Adam Randell and Horvat.

Moments later, Armstrong slipped Burgzorg through on goal but his shot was well saved by Lawrence Vigouroux. The Robins continued to apply pressure on the Swansea goal as they threw everything forward in hope of a levelling goal.

Mark Sykes and Emil Riis Jakobsen were introduced to proceedings with 25 minutes left to play as Earthy and Burgzorg’s afternoons came to an end.

Seconds after that substitution, Vipotnik almost added a second for the hosts but this time his volleyed effort hit the side netting.

Shortly after, Swansea made another change that saw Widell withdrawn for Malik Yalcouyé.

As the away side searched for an equaliser, Armstrong received a yellow card for dissent after play was stopped for an injury in the Swansea box.

The Swans instantly went down the other end and won themselves their third corner of the day which was comfortably dealt with by Radek Vitek between the Bristol City sticks.

As the 80th minute approached, Riis attempted the spectacular but saw his curling effort clip the post and go behind for a Swansea goal-kick.

Final changes followed for the both sides as Vipotnik, Goncalo Franco and Ethnan Galbraith were replaced by Cullen, Leo Walta and Joel Ward for Swansea.

Meanwhile, Armstrong as taken off in favour of Bristol City academy product Sam Bell.

Swansea’s second shot on target of the match came from Yalcouyé but it was straight at Vitek, keeping the score at 1-0.

With just five minutes of normal time remaining, Rob Atkinson went on a marauding run into the attacking half and won a free-kick for the visitors, which Twine delivered into the area only for Cameron Burgess to head clear.

Atkinson won another free-kick a few minutes later as he was brought down by Fulton, the Scotsman was subsequently handed his fourth yellow card of the season.

In the 90th minute, Bird clattered into Yacoulyé on the halfway line, picking up a yellow of his own just as a minimum of four minutes of additional time were announced.

Vitek was then forced into an excellent close-range save following Cullen’s close range effort.

The visitors won themselves a corner in the final seconds of the game and sent the six foot six-tall Vitek up to join the attack.

But nothing came of it and the referee blew the full-time whistle confirming The Swans’ ninth home win of the season and moving them within touching distance of a play-off spot.