Coventry City vs Swansea City. Sky Bet Championship.
The Coventry Building Society ArenaAttendance16,514.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Coventry and Swansea at the Coventry Building Society Arena as early goals from Jamie Paterson and Joel Piroe sealed victory for the Swans.
Tuesday 2 November 2021 23:03, UK
Jamie Paterson struck against his hometown club as Swansea handed Coventry their first home league defeat of the season.
The Swans found themselves 2-0 up inside a lightning 15 minutes through Paterson and Joel Piroe before Kyle McFadzean's header halved the deficit before the half-hour mark.
The 2-1 win was just the second time Russell Martin's side had won away this season and moved the Welsh side into the top half of the table for the first time this campaign, whilst the Sky Blues suffered a first league defeat at home since March 2019.
Swansea, unchanged from the 3-0 dismantling of Peterborough at the weekend, opened the scoring inside five minutes after Coventry-born Paterson clinically slotted home inside the box.
Jake Bidwell's cross was half cleared by Jake Clarke-Salter and the forward was on hand to net his third goal in five games with a first-time finish out of the reach of Simon Moore.
Matt Grimes nearly doubled the lead before the clock hit double figures when his whipped free-kick narrowly missed Moore's left-hand post before Piroe claimed his ninth Sky Bet Championship goal of the season.
Oliver Ntcham set Manchester United loanee Ethan Laird free down the right and the wing-back cut inside and found the Dutch striker on the penalty spot.
He was given time to shift the ball onto his left foot before his deflected effort evaded Moore into the corner of the goal, the first time the Sky Blues had conceded twice at home in the league this season.
The visitors dominated the ball in the opening minutes but goalkeeper Ben Hamer had to be alert to clear the danger when Matt Godden was played through on goal.
But Mark Robins' men weathered the early storm and McFadzean slammed home Gustavo Hamer's cross on 27 minutes to end a frantic opening half an hour.
Callum O'Hare could have caught out Swans' stopper Ben Hamer twice before the break, the former Leicester man smothering his attempted chip before the former Villa midfielder scuffed his effort after Hamer's poor clearance.
Coventry looked for an equaliser after the break but top scorer Viktor Gyokeres couldn't connect with Ian Maatsen's cross at the back post, leaving him without a goal in his last five league games.
Swansea came closest to adding to the scoreline in the second half when Bidwell headed Grimes' corner against the bar, but hung on despite later Coventry pressure to claim their first away win since a 1-0 victory against Bristol City on 20 August.
Fankaty Dabo forced Hamer into his best save of the night in injury time when his left-footed effort was tipped over the crossbar.
Coventry's Mark Robins: "We were architects of our own downfall. We didn't start the game right, they are a good team and they want to move you around, they try and do things that we want to do to opposition teams. We gave them a brilliant head start in the game and they made us too uncomfortable because we didn't get to grips with their movements. The second goal was two yards offside, it was our fault as well but we've got to work out when we press and when we don't.
"We got ourselves back in the game with a header and then had opportunities, because however good these are they give you opportunities if you get after them. If we'd have got ourselves level at half time, we'd have gone on and won it, I'm sure of it. We're fourth in the league, we've had a brilliant start and nobody is getting down about that."
Swansea's Russell Martin: "Joe and Jamie have been incredible for us. Forget all the goals, the defensive job Joel does for the team is really appreciated by his team-mates. He does some incredible things out of possession for us. He is so clever, links the game well, has good movement and is always in the right place which is why he scored the goal. Jamie, you run out of superlatives to describe him. He just keeps getting better. He deserved a goal and took it brilliantly and he's another one who works so hard for the team.
"We came out the traps brilliantly. We had so much energy, intensity and aggression against a really good team. We showed so much courage to play the way we wanted to, there were some massive performances and I thought we deserved the win for the way we started the game and the chances we created. The set piece goal we conceded was disappointing but I thought we gained control back again in the second half and were really strong."
