Watford vs Swansea City. Sky Bet Championship.
Vicarage RoadAttendance16,739.
Watford 1-0 Swansea City: Moussa Sissoko fires Hornets to victory
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Watford and Swansea City at Vicarage Road on Wednesday night; Moussa Sissoko scores in first half to seal victory for Tom Cleverley's Hornets.
Wednesday 12 March 2025 22:55, UK
Watford earned only their second home win since Boxing Day with a 1-0 victory over Swansea in the Championship.
A 27th-minute goal from Moussa Sissoko proved to be the difference in a contest that had its fair share of individual mistakes.
Swansea's defeat was their first under interim manager Alan Sheehan.
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The hosts made two changes from their home defeat to Millwall on Saturday, with Tom Ince coming in for the injured Mamadou Doumbia and Ryan Andrews replacing Jeremy Ngakia.
Swansea were without Harry Darling, with Hannes Delcroix coming into the side.
The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges, and Zan Vipotnik created the first chance after just eight minutes - his curling shot was palmed away by Egil Selvik at full stretch.
At the other end, Ince put an Andrews cross over the bar after 12 minutes, before the hosts took the lead.
Goncalo Franco gave the ball away to Ince in a dangerous position and with the defence stranded he found Sissoko to slot home his third goal of the season.
The goal was the first conceded by Swansea under Sheehan.
The half saw little further action of note, although Liam Cullen headed over the bar in added time for the visitors.
With no changes made at half-time by either manager, Swansea looked keen to net an early equaliser - although they were let down by occasional overhit through balls.
The game in general needed another spark to liven proceedings up, although Andrews attempted an effort in the 57th minute that was driven across the face of the visiting goal.
Edo Kayembe attempted an audacious shot from the halfway line in the hope of catching out Lawrence Vigouroux but his effort just dropped over the crossbar.
Swansea needed to push for an equaliser and Eom Ji-sung put a cross by Josh Tymon wide after 66 minutes.
They were almost gifted an equaliser with 14 minutes left when Matthew Pollock turned a corner just over the crossbar to the relief of the majority inside Vicarage Road.
The game threatened to boil over with under five minutes remaining when Imran Louza went in late on Lewis O'Brien, with Cullen and Kayembe squaring up, but referee Jeremy Simpson only booked Kayembe for a shove.
Swansea pushed for an equaliser in seven minutes of added time.
But they were almost undone when substitute Ngakia broke to find Rocco Vata, but his effort was fired straight at Vigouroux.
Despite yet more pressure by the visitors, Watford were able to stand firm to earn a rare home win.
The managers
Watford's Tom Cleverley:
"I don't think it's sustainable the way we're managing the games, the application from everyone is to the maximum.
"The impact of our substitutes isn't what they were at the start of the season. We have to ask why that is happening.
"We can't keep putting these games to chance. The first-half performance once again was fantastic, but in the second half we looked tired.
"We have to demand more from ourselves.
"It was a fantastic goal. Moussa is so important for the group, both on and off the field, and he's certainly leading by example."
Swansea's interim manager Alan Sheehan:
"Franco is very disappointed, he thought he was passing to one of his team-mates, which is understandable.
"But he's been absolutely outstanding for us. He's one of the reasons we've got points in recent weeks. We win as a team and we lose as a team.
"I think we should be coming away with the point, if I'm being honest. There wasn't a whole lot in the game in the first half.
"We turned the ball over a few too many times in the first half in certain areas, and then an individual error for the goal.
"In the second half I thought we were totally in control. We had a few good half-chances and we were just one pass, one bit of quality away."
