Swansea City vs Huddersfield Town. Sky Bet Championship.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance16,686.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Swansea and Huddersfield at the Swansea.com Stadium as Ryan Manning scored the only goal of the game to seal victory for the Swans.
Sunday 16 April 2023 13:42, UK
Ryan Manning gave the Swansea fans a likely parting present with a 69th-minute winner against relegation-battling Huddersfield at the Swansea.Com Stadium.
The Republic of Ireland international wing-back has turned down a contract extension and is set to leave in the summer, but the 26-year-old showed he remains an important member of the Swans squad in the 1-0 victory over Town.
His fifth goal of the season earned Swansea a fourth win in five games and also got the crowd singing 'we want you to stay' to mark their appreciation.
Huddersfield arrived knowing that relegation rivals Cardiff had fallen 4-1 at Sheffield United in the early kick-off and that a win would carry them further away from the drop zone.
And, like Swansea, Neil Warnock's men came into match in good form with three wins and two draws from their last five matches.
It was the first of two vital long trips to south Wales in their battle for Championship survival for Huddersfield, who visit the Cardiff City Stadium on April 30, and they set up to with a 5-4-1 formation, seemingly determined to frustrate Swansea from the off.
They succeeded in doing that throughout a first half in which all the big opportunities went Huddersfield's way.
With 20 minutes gone, a back-post corner was headed across goal by Tom Lees to give Michal Helik a chance to head home, but he put his effort wide.
Jaheim Headley then found himself in acres of space in the home box after Danny Ward had flicked on a long throw, but his left-footed volley failed to hit the target.
At the other end, Ben Cabango, Swansea's match-winner in the 3-2 triumph over Cardiff in the south Wales derby, headed a whipped cross from the left by Manning against the right post. The rebound just eluded the on-rushing Swansea players and Huddersfield could breath a sigh of relief.
Olivier Ntcham then smashed a golden chance from the edge of the area over the bar to leave the Swansea fans frustrated after a first half with no chances from either side on target.
Swansea boss Russell Martin replaced Ntcham with Wales international Oli Cooper at the start of the second half and he injected more pace and purpose into proceedings.
The first shot on target in the game came from home skipper Matt Grimes in the 55th minute.
A goal seemed inevitable from the Swansea side with up to 80 per cent possession at times during the game and it finally came in the 69th minute when Grimes set up Manning for a shot that looped into the goal after striking at least one Huddersfield player.
That was the cue for Swansea to pour forward as Huddersfield had to change their shape and finally try to get forward themselves.
The hosts had a few further shots in a bid to extend their lead, but then had to withstand one final effort from Huddersfield when the Terriers earned a free-kick on the edge of the home box.
Up stepped Jack Rudoni, but he could only blast his shot into the wall and so they remain within a point above the drop zone.
Swansea's Russell Martin:
"I'm really pleased with the players. Huddersfield were excellent with what they did and we knew they'd make it difficult, watching their previous games and the run they have been on. They probably had one really good moment in the game where the guy volleys over from a throw-in. It took a lot of concentration to make sure we didn't give them too much.
"The patience we showed in the game - I think if we have a little bit more composure and calm in the first half, we could have more opportunities. But I love the fact the lads were relentless in the second half. It's very difficult against a team who go man-to-man and leave very little space. It becomes about how hard you work in your position and there was loads of good stuff. In this sort of game, if you score early, it changes the way the game looks, but we weren't able to do that. We said it half-time, we have to stay patient and show a bit more care with the ball, not get anxious."
Huddersfield's Neil Warnock:
"We just have to dust ourselves down and get on with it. We had a decent chance in the first half and I thought Swansea had run out of ideas until that goal went in off the chest of Hoggy (Jonathan Hogg). It was what we expected from Swansea and we knew we wouldn't have much of the ball. But possession is pointless if you don't do anything with it.
"If we had taken our chance it would have changed the game. The fans would have got agitated and they would have had to come out a bit more. You need a bit of luck in football and to lose to a deflected shot that was going miles wide is such a disappointment to us."
