A Richard Cresswell goal and Dorus de Vries own goal saw Sheffield United beat Swansea at Bramall Lane.
Cresswell goal and De Vries own goal see Blades cut down Swans
A Richard Cresswell goal and Dorus de Vries own goal saw Sheffield United beat Swansea, who slipped out of the Championship play-off zone with the defeat.
Cresswell volleyed in the opener on 62 minutes and then his late effort went in off Swans goalkeeper De Vries at the death to seal the win.
Darren Pratley had chances for the visitors at the other end but could not convert as the loss at Bramall Lane - combined with Blackpool's 1-0 win at Peterborough - saw Paulo Sousa's side drop to seventh in the table, a point behind the Seasiders.
Sousa's men must now beat Doncaster in the final game of the season and hope that Blackpool fail to beat Bristol City if they are to make the play-offs, while the Blades bowed out of action at Bramall Lane with just one defeat in their last 15 games there, but will consider their season to be a disappointment after a play-off bid fizzled out weeks ago.
The Swans dominated for large swathes of the game and their inability to put the ball into the back of net came back to haunt them again as they failed to beat a returning Paddy Kenny, whilst also missing the target on several other occasions.
United named Kenny in their starting line-up for the first time since last season's play-off final defeat by Burnley at Wembley following a ban for failing a drugs test.
Quite opening
And after a quite opening, it was Kenny that made the first meaningful contribution of the game when he got down low to keep out Pratley's effort.
The visitors, desperate for the three points to nail down their spot in the top six, were beginning to look dangerous with their attacking brand of football and they created several chances.
Shefki Kuqi had an effort blocked by Chris Morgan and Cedric van der Gun dragged a shot wide from 10 yards soon after.
The Swans continued in the ascendancy and they felt they should have been awarded a penalty just before the break.
Pratley advanced towards the area and as he passed Nick Montgomery, he was cynically brought down on the line of the area. But referee Scott Mathieson, in discussion with his assistant Amy Fearn, decided that the infringement was outside the area.
The Swans almost made the most of the situation anyway, but Federico Bessone's curling effort produced a stunning save from Kenny.
Constant menace
The dangerous Pratley was a constant menace for Swansea as they upped the ante after the break and he had three chances to open the scoring in quick succession.
First his header was blocked by team-mate Kuqi, then a dipping volley was well kept out by Kenny before another goalbound effort was blocked, this time by Kyle Bartley.
But the hosts, who had been a non-entity as an attacking force, made Swansea pay for their wastefulness by taking the lead in the 62nd minute.
Mark Yeates fed the ball to Cresswell, who controlled the ball on his chest and hooked home an impressive volley from eight yards.
Swansea had a chance to restore parity just minutes later when Pratley put Mark Gower through on goal, but the midfielder dragged his shot wide of the post.
The visitors pushed for a leveller but could not fashion any more clear-cut chances, and United put the game to bed when Cresswell's effort deflected in off De Vries to leave Swansea's play-off dream out of their hands.
