Swansea’s stellar second-half eclipses frustrated Bristol City

Bristol City threw away a one-goal lead to lose 3-1 at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Michael Obafemi, Cyrus Christie and Joel Piroe all scored in the second half after the Robins led 1-0 through Andi Weimann.

Heading into the match with an unchanged side from Wednesday’s win against Reading, Nigel Pearson’s men looked to press early on. Semenyo immediately latched on to several loose passes from Swans’ defenders, but it came to nothing.

Obafemi, a goalscorer in Swans’ last victory against Blackburn, stung the gloves of Max O’Leary minutes later, but the shot was too close to the body to cause any danger.

Captain Matt Grimes had his first involvement by rouletting two Robins defenders, finding Obafemi, who couldn’t hit the target.

Alex Fisher was the first ‘keeper to be really tested, after some brilliantly intricate work from Antoine Semenyo. The Celtic target laid off fair the experienced Chris Martin, but Fisher tipped his shot over.

Semenyo tested the former MK Dons man again, this time with a scuffed effort off the left. He cut past Cyrus Christie and debutant Finley Burns, but his effort was tame.

Just before half-time, City took the lead through Weimann. After Ben Cabango haplessly lost the ball in his opponents half, the Swans’ defence were picked apart. The Austrian provided a clinical touch.

After the break, it would be a question of Russell Martin’s impact as to how his team would react. It’s a testament to him that they came out firing.

The equaliser came from a delightful bit of creative wit from Christie. The wing-back held on to the ball for four or five seconds in the same area of the Robins box but picked the perfect moment to find fellow Irishman Michael Obafemi’s sliding back-post run.

The crowd erupted in delight for his third goal of the season, and his second in consecutive home matches.

City responded well after the goal, forcing Fisher into several mistakes when distributing but didn’t really test him otherwise.

Swansea, though, looked imperious through Christie’s medium. At every opportunity, the playmakers were looking for his outlet. But it was when he was on the end of a cross that Martin’s men prevailed.

A ball drilled into the area found Piroe, whose close-range effort rebounded off Daniel Bentley, who’d replaced O’Leary earlier on, to hit Christie in the head. Luckily, its destination was goal bound and it completed the turnaround.

In the dying embers, just as he did at Ashton Gate, Piroe put City to the sword. A darting run past Timm Klose saw him one-on-one with Bentley. He tucked home with consummate ease, giving Swans an insurmountable cushion.

The victory sees Swansea rise above Bristol City into 16th place with two games in hand.

Swansea: Fisher; Cabango, Burns, Manning; Christie, Downes, Grimes (C), Wolf; Paterson; Obafemi, Piroe.

Bristol City: O’Leary; Vyner, Klose, Kalas, Da Silva; Massengo, Scott, Pring; Weimann, Semenyo, Martin

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