Swansea City vs Cardiff City. Sky Bet Championship.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance20,005.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Swansea City and Cardiff City at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday | Liam Cullen scores winner and misses a penalty as Luke Williams' side earn South Wales derby bragging rights
Saturday 16 March 2024 17:04, UK
Swansea extended the gap between themselves and the Championship relegation zone to seven points with a 2-0 South Wales derby win over Cardiff on Saturday.
Liam Cullen and Jamal Lowe scored the goals at the Swansea.com Stadium, earning Luke Williams' side a fifth win in the last six meetings with their fierce rivals.
Cullen - who has been with the Swans since 2007 - had the chance to double the advantage early on in the second half, after Ronald was fouled by Perry Ng, but despite sending Bluebirds goalkeeper Ethan Horvath the wrong way, he dragged his shot wide of the left-hand post.
Swansea side move up to 15th, seven points clear of Huddersfield in 22nd, as a result
Meanwhile, while Cardiff's pride takes a hit, as do hopes of a late dash for the play-offs. They remain eight points off the pace in 11th, with eight games remaining.
The Swans clearly meant business as they sought to avenge their 2-0 loss in the reverse fixture - with Harry Darling and Cullen having decent efforts early on.
Cardiff looked nervy and almost fell behind in the 16th minute when Jamie Paterson's lofted cross found Darling unmarked, although the centre-back's header crashed off the crossbar.
The hosts were left incensed moments later when Yakou Meite escaped a red card for pushing his head into the face of Darling.
The Bluebirds eventually showed signs of settling and saw Dimitrios Goutas poke wide from a David Turnbull corner.
But Swansea got the breakthrough their efforts warranted just after the half-hour mark following sublime work from January signing Ronald.
The Brazilian winger lifted the ball over Josh Wilson-Esbrand before darting 40 yards upfield and laying off to Kyle Naughton.
The experienced defender's floated delivery found Cullen, who coolly volleyed beyond Horvath at the back post to send the home fans into raptures.
Ronald himself then rifled over as the Swans looked for a second, and Erol Bulut will no doubt have been pleased to reach half-time with his side only a goal down.
The Cardiff boss sent Rubin Colwill and Callum O'Dowda on for Turnbull and Meite, although they made a disastrous start to the second half as Perry Ng conceded a penalty for dragging down Ronald.
However, first-half goal hero Cullen could only fire the spot-kick wide to give Cardiff hope.
The miss certainly lifted Cardiff's spirits, with Nat Phillips heading at Carl Rushworth before Colwill lashed over as the visitors finally threatened.
Bulut's men enjoyed more periods in possession as Ollie Tanner and Josh Key replaced Josh Bowler and Naughton respectively.
Ronald - now on the left flank - continued to show his quality though and beautifully picked out Cullen who headed wide.
Ollie Cooper, Lowe and Jay Fulton were all summoned from the bench, while Wales star Aaron Ramsey returned after a month on the sidelines with 19 minutes left on the clock.
The final stages were cagey as Horvath comfortably gathered Matt Grimes' free-kick before Goutas headed over at the other end.
But Lowe rounded Horvath before drilling into the net in the sixth minute of added time as Swansea clinched a third successive home win over their neighbours, who lost ground in the race for a Sky Bet Championship play-off spot.
Swansea's Luke Williams:
"We won in a really positive way, I can't argue with the way we went about it today.
"I think the combination of intensity and aggression combined with calmness and clarity is something we're all striving for.
"I think it's fair to say we've seen one or the other in recent performances or we've seen periods where we've done both well.
"But today felt like the most complete performance so far.
"It's unrealistic for us to expect to not have any pressure (against us), but we were very dominant for the majority of the game and the big chances in the game, we created all of them."
Cardiff's Erol Bulut:
"With the pressing Swansea made against us, we had to keep the ball in midfield, but we didn't ask for the ball in midfield, we were hiding too much in the midfield.
"If you are hiding, you cannot get out of the press. You have to ask for the ball, this was not there in the first half.
"That's why in the second half I made the changes, bringing two players in and we managed it a little bit better and the rest who came in, I think it was quite good.
"We will not put our heads down and make big trouble of this because we lost.
"When we see the last weeks, how we worked and how we came back when we've been on the bottom, we will be back again.
"We still have eight games to play, we have the international break, we will rest well, train well and come back strong again."
