Oxford United 0-1 Swansea City: Zan Vipotnik steers Swans to victory
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Oxford United and Swansea City at the Kassam Stadium on Monday; Zan Vipotnik scores in the first half to seal a narrow win for Vitor Matos' Swans.
Monday 29 December 2025 23:17, UK
Zan Vipotnik scored his 12th goal of the season for Swansea as they completed a Championship double over managerless Oxford with a 1-0 win at the Kassam Stadium.
The Slovenia international powerfully headed in Josh Tymon's left-wing cross in the 14th minute.
This was a crunch clash between two relegation-threatened teams, and the Swans probably deserved to take the spoils.
Oxford's interim boss Craig Short named an unchanged team following the 2-1 Boxing Day win over Southampton which lifted them out of the bottom three on goal difference.
Swansea started on the front foot and Tymon sent over a low cross from the left which flashed across the face of the goal, with goalkeeper Jamie Cumming finger-tipping the ball away from danger.
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Tymon was the provider again as Swansea went ahead through Vipotnik's fine finish.
Brian De Keersmaecker warmed the hands of Swans goalkeeper Lawrence Vigoroux with a fierce 25-yard free-kick, while at the other end Oxford's defence allowed Eom Ji-sung to run 15 yards unchallenged before he unleashed a piledriver that Cumming palmed away.
The Welsh club began to dominate the middle of the park as Oxford struggled for cohesion.
However, they did raise a head of steam in the closing stages of the first half, with Stan Mills sending over two dangerous crosses from the left and Ciaron Brown having a goal-bound shot blocked.
Eom went on a skilful run early in the second half and Zeidane Inoussa felt he should have had a penalty as the Swans continued to dominate the second half.
There was a golden opportunity for substitute Goncalo Franco to double the visitors' lead from Eom's pass but he screwed his shot well wide.
Vipotnik's shot and a Cameron Burgess header tested Cumming again.
Oxford brought on the pacy Siriki Dembele and twice Swansea defenders had to resort to hacking him down to stop him.
But the Swans held out for a valuable three points, greatly aiding their bid to climb away from the relegation places, while Oxford drop back into the bottom three.
The managers
Oxford's interim manager Craig Short:
"After 15 minutes, probably even less than that, I was thinking I shouldn't have gone with the same team. Our physical stats against Southampton were the best we've had all season but I wanted to go for two wins, not maybe grind out a draw, especially with the two games we've got coming up.
"I wanted to make sure we started on the front foot again, and for the five players who came in for Boxing Day I wanted to build on their confidence as well.
"But we never really got to grips with it, and I thought their press was very aggressive. We didn't take care enough after working so hard to turn the ball over, or we chose the wrong pass.
"They're all flat in the dressing room, we've got to give them a lift - that's the challenge in the next few days. The lads themselves know they didn't do themselves justice."
Swansea's Vitor Matos:
The goal came from a second phase of a set piece, which is really important, so I was really pleased with the goal.
"The effort Zan put in the whole game was great. We all love him and there's more to come out of him I think. We had the right mentality on the pitch and the right desire. We've had two difficult away games, Coventry and Oxford, and this was a massive win for us.
"The concentration of the team was brilliant. I think there were moments in the first half where we struggled a little bit, but in the second half we did really well with our defending and were very concentrated, putting pressure on them and keeping compact at the same time. We also had moments with the ball.
"I liked a lot of things about us in terms of performance and mentality, there are still things to improve of course. It's not about having a first away win for me, it's about the team having the right mindset. We need to keep pushing and moving forward."
