14/12/2016 20:00 v West Bromwich Albion

Swansea City went down 3-1 at West Bromwich Albion thanks to a 13-minute treble from Salomon Rondon.

Bob Bradley’s men had hoped to build on their rousing win over Sunderland as they travelled to The Hawthorns.

For a while it seemed they might be capable of doing just that, for the Swans played some encouraging football in the first half.

But the visitors’ bid to make it three wins in four Premier League games unravelled spectacularly in the early stages of the second period, as Rondon helped himself to a hat-trick of headers.

The Swans responded late on when Wayne Routledge steered home, but the goal offered little consolation on a night which had at one stage promised much more.

The defeat leaves the Swans in the relegation zone with 12 points from the first 16 games of the top-flight campaign.

The Swans enjoyed plenty of possession in a largely encouraging first half.

Bradley must have been well pleased with the work done by his team both on and off the ball, with the Swans pressing Albion hard and passing with precision and tempo.

The home side tried to put the Swans under pressure, but they were usually able to work the ball out of defence with relative comfort.

The one disappointment was that for all their neat play, Bradley’s side struggled to create clear-cut chances.

In fact, their only real sights of goal came from set-pieces.

Gylfi Sigurdsson tried his luck with a typically well-struck free-kick, but his shot flew straight into the arms of Ben Foster.

Alfie Mawson rose highest to meet a Sigurdsson corner, but his looped header was again gathered by Foster.

At the other end of the field, West Brom had their moments.

Some neat skill from Nacer Chadli allowed him to cross for Matt Phillips, but his close-range effort flew wide of the target.

Then, after the Swans had given the ball away, Chadli rolled in Rondon, but Lukasz Fabianski came off his line to make a fine save.

Albion were celebrating shortly before half-time when a Chris Brunt free-kick led to Jay Fulton bundling the ball into his own net, but the own goal was rightly chalked off for offside.

There was an own-goal scare for the Baggies, too, as Brunt sliced Jefferson Montero’s centre a yard wide of the post.

The second period began in the worst possible fashion for the Swans as just five minutes after the restart, Albion went ahead.

Phillips whipped in a free-kick from the right flank, and the hosts’ movement in the box proved too much for Bradley’s defence as Rondon powered home a header from point-blank range.

The Swans tried to find a response, but still they could not find much inspiration in the final third.

And very quickly, a game they had been right in at the break slipped away.

Rondon’s second goal arrived on 61 minutes. Phillips made ground down the left before rolling the ball back for Brunt to centre.

His deep cross found an unmarked Rondon and he headed the ball back across Fabianski and into the net.

Remarkably, the Venezuelan frontman completed his hat-trick just two minutes later.

With the Swans reeling, Phillips raced down the left flank once again and once again he laid off to Brunt.

Another left-foot cross from the Northern Irishman found Rondon, and once again he headed home.

The shellshocked Swans were able to muster a response of sorts 12 minutes from time, as Routledge steered into an empty net after substitute Borja’s shot was well saved by Foster.

There was another scare for the West Brom defence right at the end when Gareth McAuley almost turned Routledge's centre into his own net, but Foster made another good stop.

 

WEST BROM: Ben Foster, Allan Nyom, Gareth McAuley, Jonas Olsson, Chris Brunt, Darren Fletcher (capt), Claudio Yacob, Matt Phillips, Nacer Chadli (James mcClean 71), James Morrison (Craig Gardner 77), Salomon Rondon (Hal Robson-Kanu 84).
SUBS: Alex Palmer, Brendan Galloway, Jonathan Leko, Rekeem Harper.

SWANS: Lukasz Fabianski, Angel Rangel, Jordi Amat, Alfie Mawson, Neil Taylor, Leon Britton (capt, Jack Cork 71), Jay Fulton, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jefferson Montero (Modou Barrow 64), Wayne Routledge, Fernando Llorente (Borja 71).
SUBS: Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Kyle Naughton, Mike van der Hoorn, Leroy Fer.