Swansea City 1-2 Southampton: Saints march continues as they hit back for victory

Cameron Archer struck a superb late winner to maintain Southampton's remarkable surge towards the automatic promotion places with a 2-1 victory at Swansea.

The Saints substitute volleyed home in the 90th minute to rack up a seventh successive Championship victory for Tonda Eckert's men.

That sequence has propelled fourth-placed Southampton to within a single point of second-spotted Millwall and level with Ipswich, in third, who have two matches in hand.

It is now eight wins on the trot for Saints in all competitions following their recent FA Cup success against Arsenal.

Swansea, who led at half-time through Marko Stamenic's 20th-minute opener, drop one place to 15th.

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Substitute Shea Charles began the Southampton fightback when he drew the visitors level in the 57th minute before Archer arrowed home his second goal in successive games.

Swansea's bright start brought no reward, but even though their tempo slowed they still managed to take the lead after 20 minutes through Stamenic.

It followed a move from a throw-in on the left which ended with Eom Ji-sung's deep cross being headed back across goal by Zan Vipotnik.

Ben Cabango was unable to turn the ball in, but Stamenic did for his third goal of the season.

The goal ignited the contest, although the result was yellow cards rather than further goals before the interval.

Swansea's Goncalo Franco was the first in the book before his team-mate Melker Widell followed for a clash with Southampton's Flynn Downes, who was also cautioned after the pair grappled on the ground.

The heat stayed in the contest when a penalty appeal by Southampton for a trip on striker Ross Stewart by Cabango was waved away by referee Oliver Langford.

Stewart then shot well over and as the visitors ended the half strongly, with Swansea goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux producing a fine save, low down to his right, to deny Saints' James Bree.

Southampton, who opted to replace Downes with Charles at the break, began the second period with the same sense of urgency they had ended the first.

But a combination of resolute defending and delays in shooting meant Swansea survived a prolonged scramble inside their own penalty area.

Vigouroux then produced another excellent stop to thwart Stewart as Southampton sensed an equaliser was on its way.

It duly arrived in the 57th minute through Charles, who headed home from close range after Leo Scienza had flicked on a probing cross from the left from Finn Azaz.

With their tails up, Saints had a chance to take the lead, but when Ryan Manning drilled a low cross across goal, there was no-one to add the decisive touch.

Swansea, though, survived the storm and created more openings themselves in the late stages.

A forceful run by Eom opened up space for Gustavo Nunes, but the substitute's shot was deflected wide before Franco also went close.

Just when it seemed both sides would have to settle for a point, Caspar Jander's cross was volleyed home by Archer, despite Jay Fulton's attempted block on the line.

The managers

Swansea's Vitor Matos:

"The details make the difference, small things make the difference, and that's something that we need to learn when we want to compete against these kinds of teams.

"I think we showed that we can compete and then it's about consistency. That consistency is what we still lack and we need to try to find it.

"I think we matched the form team in the Championship in most areas, but the most important thing is that everyone keeps believing and everyone keeps fighting for our identity.

"Because that's what will, in the end, in the future, for sure, make us a better team and it put us in a better place."

Southampton's Tonda Eckert:

"For me, it's not the time for any big reflections. The records are a nice side fact, but it doesn't take us anywhere.

"I think you saw a team full of desire and belief to win a game and then the way to win it is always different.

"A big credit to Swansea for making that game so hard for us because it's not easy to come here.

"We still have big goals to play for the season, so I think we're doing good in the way that we always have that sense of humility.

"We need to put that game to bed tonight and then we have a big one coming up on Tuesday against Bristol City."

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