Conor Hourihane and Swansea defying the statistics in quest for promotion

Conor Hourihane’s afternoon at Kenilworth Road peaked after just three minutes.

The Republic of Ireland international arrived late in the box to latch on to a cutback from Yan Dhanda to give Swansea a 1-0 lead against Luton that would not be relinquished.

The goal summed up once again why Steve Cooper was so keen to secure Hourihane on a loan deal until the end of the season from Aston Villa in January, and why other clubs in the Championship were also interested in securing his services.

“Yan showed brilliant quality and great awareness in a tight situation, a touch of class really, and obviously he found Conor and with Conor you do fancy him (to score) really.

“We shouldn’t take it for granted, him scoring, but he is at a level where you expect him to.”

– Swansea City Head Coach Steve Cooper

Despite such a bright start to the game, Hourihane was largely ineffective for the remaining 62 minutes he spent on the field.

He touched the ball just 38 times, completed only 70% of his passes and lost possession on 14 separate occasions, but he ultimately turned out to be the match-winner – a sign that he is a player that almost cannot be defined by his statistics game-to-game, rather one that should be judged by how many times he digs you out of a hole or decides a testing Saturday lunchtime fixture.

His role in this Swansea side is not to recycle possession, that’s the domain of Matt Grimes, nor is it to win back the ball as Korey Smith and Jay Fulton do with such regularity. Hourihane is effectively Swansea’s wildcard, their joker in the pack. His job is not to fit in with those around him but to provide something that alters the course of a 90 minutes.

A glorious first-half pass on his weaker foot that bamboozled Luton defender Kal Naismith and fell right into the path of Andre Ayew was a brief indicator of his undoubted quality, and it was almost a surprise that he didn’t find the back of the net when a loose ball was played into his path on the edge of the box shortly before he was substituted.

Hourihane doesn’t dominate the midfield or get involved in a great deal of Swansea’s build-up play, yet he has regularly decided games since arriving in South Wales.

He is part of a very functional team, they grind out results thanks to being well organised and disciplined, so the spark of ingenuity that Hourihane provides can make a massive difference.

He can often be wasteful in possession, he’s not a particularly gifted athlete off the ball, and the quality of his left foot can sometimes lead to him taking on a shot when there is a better pass on, yet when a game is up for grabs and neither side appear capable of capitalising, it is so often Hourihane that provides a decisive contribution.

In his first five games in a Swansea shirt, the man from Cork scored four goals, each one more spectacular than the last.

A looping free-kick on his league debut against Brentford rescued a vital point against an obvious promotion rival. A beautiful swerving effort with the outside of his boot set the Swans on their way to a 3-1 win at Rotherham the following weekend.

A low drive from outside of the box secured all three points against league leaders Norwich at the start of February, and although a free-kick in the 4-1 defeat at Huddersfield was no more than a consolation in the end, it was another example of his undeniable ability.

In the past few weeks he has been less influential.

Swansea have struggled to fashion chances for Hourihane to use his trebuchet of a left foot, relying heavily on controversially-awarded penalties to pick up points instead.

Cooper’s side have collected seven points this week to move level with second-place Watford in the Championship table and they have done so by scoring four goals from just six shots on target.

They have had less shots than their opponents in 19 of the 35 league games they have played this season, and based on expected goals they should be sitting 11th rather than third in the table.

For much of the afternoon at Kenilworth Road, Swansea found it difficult to string passes together and were reliant on their stingy defence and wayward Luton finishing to keep Nathan Jones’ side at bay.

Even the finish for the game’s decisive goal was hardly convincing, squirming under the body of Simon Sluga when Hourihane had the whole goal to aim at.

Despite a less than stellar afternoon on the pitch, Hourihane has also provided a quality to this Swansea side that cannot be measured by statistics, and that was showcased after he was taken off.

The 30-year-old was unwilling to see out the season on Villa’s bench, returning to a league that he has already conquered in order to continue playing regularly, and it is clear that he has already become an influential member of a young Swansea dressing room.

“It just didn’t sit well with me sitting around at Villa. I was there four years and achieved a few bits with the club and I have a fondness towards the club of course, but I didn’t see it as a good thing to do for my career.

“I’ve just turned 30, I’m really eager and keen to achieve as much as I can before I finish.

“Growing up as a lad, my dream wasn’t to train all week and not play on a Saturday.”

– Conor Hourihane speaking to the Not The Top 20 Podcast in February

After rising through the EFL with Plymouth and Barnsley, Hourihane secured a shot at the Premier League with Aston Villa after winning the Championship play-off final at the second time of asking against Derby in 2019.

He was by no means out of his depth in the top division last season, helping himself to three goals and five assists as Dean Smith’s side avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth, and the success he has enjoyed in recent seasons has helped him become a leading figure at the Liberty Stadium in the seven weeks that he has been at the club.

After being substituted for the more conservative Fulton as the game headed into its final quarter, Hourihane became one of the most vocal presences on the makeshift Swansea bench.

His badgering of the fourth official and constant calls of encouragement and advice for his younger team-mates certainly felt like the actions of a senior pro who has experienced the stomach-churning excitement of a promotion run-in before.

Much like Swansea in general, Hourihane is delivering without really catching the eye – if he can continue to do so  this season, he has every chance of ending it with another promotion on his CV.

As Swansea’s players loudly celebrated three points that temporarily moved them into the automatic promotion places in the Kenilworth Road bar that has been transformed into a temporary dressing room, the match-winner’s misplaced passes were surely the last thing on their minds.

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