Saturday 31st October 2020
Swansea.com Stadium
15:00

SWA Swansea

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BBR Blackburn

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31st October
Andre Ayew Yan Dhanda Blackburn

Goals from Ben Cabango and Andre Ayew gave Swansea City their second 2-0 victory in four days as they put Blackburn Rovers to the sword at the Liberty Stadium.

A headed goal in each half did the trick as Steve Cooper's side made it six points from six this week and moved back up to second in the Championship table.

Cabango marked his return to the starting 11 by powerfully heading home his second goal of the season in the 25th minute.

Ayew - captaining the hosts in the absence of Matt Grimes - then secured the victory just after the hour mark, as he found the net for the third consecutive meeting between the sides.

Rovers arrived in South Wales as the division's leading scorers, but they were unable to find their way through a resoulute Swans, who recorded their fifth clean sheet of the campaign.

The win was also the Swans' first in four attempts against Rovers, whose 37-year wait for success in SA1 goes on.

Cabango was recalled to the starting line-up in one of three changes to the side that beat Stoke at the Liberty in midweek.

There were also recalls for Jake Bidwell and Korey Smith, with Ryan Bennett and Ryan Manning dropping to the bench.

Meanwhile, Grimes was given a rest, ending a remarkable run that had seen him play every minute of the Swans' last 89 league games stretching back to the 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa in October 2018.

Freddie Woodman Blackburn

With 18 goals from their opening eight games, Blackburn made a bright start at the Liberty and the first chance fell to leading marksman Adam Armstrong inside the opening two minutes.

The Rovers striker, who has nine goals to his name already, did well to skip away from Cabango in the box, before shooting just wide of the far post.

The Swans gradually grew into the contest and, with a better first touch, Jamal Lowe could have been bearing down on goal after latching onto Yan Dhanda's neat through ball.

The goalkeepers came to the rescue of both sides soon after. Freddie Woodman denied Lewis Holtby from a tight angle, while Pears was quickly out of goal to prevent Ayew from racing onto a long ball over the top of the Blackburn defence.

But the Rovers keeper could do nothing to prevent the Swans from breaking the deadlock in the 25th minute.

Cabango, who netted the winner against Millwall at the start of the month, showed tremendous strength to hold off the challenge of Darragh Lenihan and head home from Connor Roberts' corner.

Roberts almost added his third assist of the season nine minutes later. His low cross was met by Ayew, whose stooping header was tipped over by Pears.

Tony Mowbray's side, who were 4-0 winners at Coventry in their last away game, looked to respond with Joe Rankin-Costello heading just wide from Holtby's inviting cross.

The Rovers left-back was then involved at the other end as the Swans had a shout for a penalty turned down on the stroke of half-time.

Ben Cabango Blackburn

Following some neat link-up play, Roberts went down after beating Rankin-Costello to the ball as he looked to latch onto Kyle Naughton's return pass, but referee Dean Whitestone quickly waved away the appeal.

Aiming to avoid a fourth defeat in five games, Blackburn went in search of an equaliser in the early stages of the second half, and Woodman was called into action to deny Armstrong and Brereton.

But, after weathering the storm, the Swans doubled their lead in the 61st minute as Ayew arrived to head home his fourth goal of the season from Dhanda's delicious cross.

Rovers looked to hit back four minutes later with Rankin-Costello embarking on a dangerous run into the box, before shooting straight at Woodman.

At the other end, it took an important last-ditch block to deny substitute Kasey Palmer a second goal in as many games.

The visitors rallied later on as they desperately sought a route back into the contest, but they were unable to find a way through the stubborn Swans.

Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Kyle Naughton, Ben Cabango, Marc Guehi; Connor Roberts, Korey Smith, Jay Fulton, Yan Dhanda (Kasey Palmer, 75), Jake Bidwell; Jamal Lowe (Viktor Gyokeres, 66), Andre Ayew (capt).

Substitutes: Steven Benda, Ryan Bennett, Ryan Manning, Matt Grimes, Wayne Routledge.

Blackburn Rovers: Aynsley Pears; Ryan Nyambe, Darragh Lenihan (capt), Derrick Williams, Joe Rankin-Costello; Lewis Holtby, Corry Evans (Tyrhys Dolan, 60), Tom Trybull; Harvey Elliott, Adam Armstrong (Jacob Davenport, 79), Ben Brereton (Sam Gallagher, 60).

Substitutes: Antonis Stergiakis, Harry Chapman, John Buckley, Scott Wharton.

Referee: Dean Whitestone