Swansea City vs Sheffield Wednesday. The FA Cup Fifth Round.
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Wednesday 28 February 2018 09:14, UK
Second-half goals from Jordan Ayew and Nathan Dyer sent Swansea into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 replay win against Sheffield Wednesday.
The original fixture ended in a 0-0 draw at Hillsborough ten days ago, and after another goalless 45 minutes, half-time substitute Ayew tapped home in the 55th minute.
Swansea looked to be heading for the next round, and with ten minutes of normal time to play, Dyer made sure of it as he slotted the ball past Wednesday goalkeeper Cameron Dawson.
Carlos Carvalhal's men have secured a home tie in the quarter-finals, but they must wait until Wednesday evening to find out their opponents, with Tottenham and Rochdale also replaying their fifth-round tie at Wembley.
The opening half an hour was a quiet affair and it was Wednesday who forced the first saves of the game.
Jacob Butterfield's fierce strike from just inside the area was pushed away by Kristoffer Nordfeldt before Jordan Rhodes also forced a save from the Swansea stopper.
Five minutes later, Lucas Joao also saw his shot go straight into the hands of the goalkeeper.
Swansea did leap into action at the other end as Tammy Abraham attempted to play Dyer into the area, but Wednesday goalkeeper Dawson raced off his line to collect ahead of the winger.
Sung-Yueng Ki also went close six minutes before the break, but after being set up by Mike Van Der Hoorn across the top of the box, his effort just went wide of the post.
Carvalhal made two half-time changes, introducing Ayew and Martin Olsson, and the former changed the game in Swansea's favour when he opened the scoring after ten minutes.
The initial shot came from Sam Clucas, who hammered a thunderous drive against both posts before Ayew, lurking at the back post, tapped home.
The rest of the game passed without much incident, until the 80th minute when Swansea doubled their lead.
Abraham latched onto a loose ball in the middle of the park before driving towards the top of the box, picking out Dyer to his right.
The winger latched onto the pass before sweeping home past Dawson and sending Swansea into their first FA Cup quarter-final in 54 years.
He only played one half, but Ayew was easily the best player on the field and changed the look of Swansea's attack when he came on. He was direct and changed up his position, sending Wednesday's five-man back line into disarray.
Ayew also nabbed a poacher's goal to add to his tally this season, and will be hoping to transfer his performance into the Premier League this weekend.
Swansea are next in Premier League action on Saturday when they welcome West Ham to the Liberty Stadium while Sheffield Wednesday are again on the road as they take on Bristol City in the Sky Bet Championship.