Swansea City vs Wycombe Wanderers. Sky Bet Championship.
Swansea.com Stadium.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Swansea and Wycombe at the Liberty Stadium as the Swans came from two goals down late on to earn a point on Saturday afternoon against the Chairboys.
Saturday 17 April 2021 16:30, UK
Swansea were forced to claw their way back from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw against bottom-of-the-table Wycombe to keep alive their slim hopes of challenging Watford for the second automatic promotion spot.
With Luton winning 1-0 at the Hornets, the point Steve Cooper's side were able to scramble late on cut the gap between second and third to six points.
At the other end of the table it meant Wycombe are still nine points from safety and they will view it as two dropped points having scored twice in six minutes at the start of the second half.
Swansea came into the game looking for a third win in a row to stay in the hunt for an automatic promotion spot, but found themselves being hustled, harried and bullied out of contention in an end-to-end first half in which both sides had chances to open the scoring.
Wycombe were the team showing all the desire and nobody could have complained had they hit the front. It did not help the Swansea cause that star-man Andre Ayew limped out of the contest after only eight minutes to leave his side short of their major attacking option.
His departure came a few minutes after centre-back Ryan Bennett had picked up a yellow card for handling the ball after slipping in a tackle as Wycombe attempted to break clear.
Connor Roberts raced on to a misguided back header and forced David Stockdale into a full-length save and then Conor Hourihane fired a long-range shot inches wide of the post.
Wycombe also had their opportunities at the other end. Some trickery by Curtis Thompson on the left side of the box gave Dennis Adeniran an opening in front of goal, but his lunge sent the ball just past the post.
Roberts then had another golden chance after good work by Wayne Routledge, but once again Stockdale was up to the task and beat his shot away for a corner. It was stalemate at the break, but it did not stay that way for long.
Swansea had been fortunate to keep their goal intact at the end of the opening half when Bennett headed on to the crossbar but there was no stopping Admiral Muskwe 19 seconds into the second half when he lashed a lay-off from Uche Ikpeazu past Freddie Woodman from the edge of the area.
That stunned the home side and further emboldened the aggressive visitors and five minutes later they doubled their lead. This time it was Garath McCleary cutting in from the left and hitting the bottom-right corner.
Jason McCarthy conceded a penalty for handball on the floor, Jamal Lowe scoring his fourth goal in three games, and then substitute Liam Cullen headed home a Roberts cross with eight minutes of normal time remaining.
Swansea's Steve Cooper: "It's a missed opportunity. We wanted to win and take all three points, especially after playing so well in the last two games. We didn't play well enough in the first half and we tried to sort that our at half-time. Then we gave away two soft goals at the start of the second half.
"At 2-0 down the players showed a lot of heart to get back into the game. We shouldn't lose sight of that, although a few of them looked tired after three games in a week. I was left with mixed emotions after the game - the result could have been worse, but also a lot better. It's going to be an interesting few weeks and whatever there is to play for we will do so."
Wycombe's Gareth Ainsworth: "I'm frustrated, but full of pride. We were fantastic today, scored the better goals and I thought we were unfortunate not to get a penalty like they did. But I am amazingly proud of my boys. To come here and do what we have done is fantastic because Swansea were one of most pre-season favourites for promotion and Steve Cooper is one of the best managers.
"Since the turn of year, we have probably shown mid-table form. We started the season badly, but we have learned and adapted - I am really excited for the future of this football club. We have got to get 46 points, now. We have to win every game but there are still five teams below that mark. We want to catch others, so who knows? Fairytales happen. I am excited for the future of this football club."
