Swansea City vs Bournemouth. Premier League.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance20,228.
Saturday 25 November 2017 20:51, UK
Swansea ended a run of five straight Premier League defeats but they could only manage a battling point as they drew 0-0 at home to Bournemouth on Saturday.
Paul Clement's side were denied a winner at the Liberty Stadium after referee Stuart Attwell controversially disallowed Wilfried Bony's strike after a foul by Jordan Ayew on Nathan Ake in first-half stoppage time.
Ki Sung-yueng was fortunate not to be sent off after appearing to push the referee following an altercation between Jordon Ibe and Martin Olsson, but the South Korean midfielder was only shown a yellow card.
Substitute Leroy Fer missed a glorious chance to win it late on but he was first denied by Asmir Begovic before his rebound was fired wide from close range as the Cherries recorded a third straight clean sheet for the first time in the Premier League.
Clement, who denied he felt under pressure to get a win over Eddie Howe's men after seeing his side lose five of their first six home league games, made five changes to his team from the defeat by Burnley as Tammy Abraham was only fit enough to be named on the bench.
It was Bournemouth who made the brighter start as Josh King picked out Marc Pugh in the area after just two minutes, but the midfielder's shot was tame and straight at Lukasz Fabianski.
Andrew Surman was next to test Fabianski with a fierce shot before King should have taken advantage of ball-watching from the returning Roque Mesa, but the forward could only fire straight at the Polish shot-stopper.
Swansea appeared happy to go into the break with the scoreline at 0-0, but they were then denied what would have been the breakthrough on the stroke of half-time when Ayew barged into Ake and the ball fell for Bony to fire past Begovic.
Attwell immediately blew for a free-kick but that did not stop the officials being booed off at the interval by the irate home supporters.
Swansea enjoyed the better of the second period but they could easily have been reduced to 10 men with 15 minutes remaining. Martin Olsson tangled with Ibe and as both confronted one another, Ki barged into the back of Attwell as he looked to push the Bournemouth winger.
The midfielder was cautioned, along with the two instigators of the flashpoint, and Clement's men nearly snatched the victory as Fer dribbled free of Adam Smith to see his low shot saved by Begovic, and the Dutchman's rebound was blazed into the side-netting with the goal at his mercy.
Paul Clement: "It was a goal, and I stand by that having looked at it again. What I see is Nathan Ake and Jordan Ayew both fighting for that position, that the ball was coming into, and I saw our striker being stronger than their defender, and their defender just falling flat on the ground.
"I think that it's a really soft decision. The overall performance of the referee was very poor."
Eddie Howe: "It was a game of few chances. It was scrappy, and certainly wasn't one for the purist. We're just pleased that we came through it unscathed.
"We kept another clean sheet and we're becoming harder to beat but it wasn't a great game. Last season we were scoring goals for fun, but conceding at a rate so it was important we did something about that. Three clean sheets in a row is a fine achievement."
Phil Thompson: "Swansea got better in the second half, I can say that, and they had the best chance through Leroy Fer. Still, they are not having a great time of it.
"How Ki hasn't got a red card is beyond me. As he is pushing Jordon Ibe, Stuart Atwell kind of just gets in the way, but Ki pushes him from the back. It is amazing. He brandishes the yellow card to two players, takes some advice from his assistant, and you think 'here comes the red', but he then gives him a yellow card."
Bournemouth came into the game full of confidence having smashed four past Huddersfield without reply and many had fancied the Cherries to enjoy a fruitful afternoon in south Wales but the Swansea defence held firm, expertly marshalled by Mawson.
The young defender was without his usual partner in Federico Fernandez after the Argentine returned to his homeland on Friday night following the death of his father, but Mawson stepped up to deliver another mature performance alongside the impressive Mike van der Hoorn.
Marc Pugh and Charlie Daniels frequently combined well down the left but it was Mawson who time and again made vital interceptions at the crucial moment to keep the home side's clean sheet intact for the first time in five games.
Swansea travel to London on Wednesday to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Bournemouth host Burnley on the same night at the Vitality Stadium.
