Report | Sheffield United 3 Swansea City 3
Late strikes from Adam Idah and Jisung Eom saw Swansea City fight back from two goals down to earn a point against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
Gustavo Hamer had opened the scoring for the hosts, but Zan Vipotnik scored his 20th goal of the season from the spot to leave the sides level at the break.
The game swung in the home side’s favour when Harrison Burrows gave them the lead, seconds after Melker Widell had been denied a goal at the other end by an incredible goal-line clearance.
Substitute Tom Cannon went on to add a third for the Blades but Swansea showed great character to wrest back the initiative in a game that looked to be drifting away from them.
Idah’s excellent finish halved the deficit, before the Republic of Ireland international set-up Jisung Eom for the leveller.
The Swans had shown three changes from the defeat to Coventry prior to the international break as Marko Stamenic, Malick Yalcouye and Joel Ward came into the team, while Ethan Galbraith missed out with a calf injury.
The Swans made a bright start, Melker Widell having some joy down the left while the visitors had the lion’s share of possession.
Ronald had a cross blocked after the Swans had won the ball in midfield with Stamenic finding the winger in space, while the visitors had to find a way to clear after Patrick Bamford had found space in the area and delivered into the six-yard box.
But Swansea’s early good work was undone when a lapse from a United throw allowed the hosts to suddenly find acres of space, and Hamer capitalised by calmly picking his spot from the edge of the area and finding the bottom corner of the net.
However, the away side were not behind for long. Moments after Widell had been denied a penalty after being pulled down by Japhet Tanganga in the area, Franco was felled by Blades keeper Adam Davies and the referee – on this occasion – pointed to the spot.
Vipotnik stepped up and – after electing to re-place the ball on the spot – sent Davies the wrong way to bring up his milestone goal.
The hosts responded strongly to the equaliser and had a decent spell of pressure, but Swansea lifted it and should have taken the lead.
The lively Widell led the counter and found Ronald in support, who played Vipotnik in on goal, but Davies did well to get a hand to the Slovenian’s strike and direct it away from the target.
At the other end, Ben Cabango made a fine block as Bamford pulled the trigger from Callum O’Hare’s lay-off.
United then spurned two big opportunities in stoppage time, Hamer firing well over from 10 yards, before Lawrence Vigouroux pushed away Bamford’s low strike.
The Swans then fell behind eight minutes into the second half, moments after they had looked set to take the lead.
Ronald’s cross had run through to Widell, and when he beat Davies a cool looked certain, only for an outstanding goal-line clearance from Tyler Bindon to somehow keep the ball out.
United swept straight upfield, and Hamer was able to play in Burrows, who fired across Vigouroux low into the far corner.
Matos quickly sent on Liam Cullen and Gustavo Nunes but they had only been on for a handful of minutes when the Swans failed to deal with a hopeful punt downfield and Cannon picked up the ball and fired home from 20 yards.
Swansea pulled one back when Idah swept home smartly after good work by Gustavo Nunes and Jay Fulton down the right.
There were still 14 minutes to play and Swansea swept forward sensing late drama, with Nunes firing into the side-netting after a Cameron Burgess flick had run through to him.
But the Swans did level through Eom. Idah was the provider this time as he ran in behind and showed power to get hold of the ball and turn infield to pick out the arriving South Korea international for a tap-in.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Joel Ward, Ben Cabango (captain), Cameron Burgess, Josh Tymon; Marko Stamenic (Jay Fulton 70), Goncalo Franco, Malick Yalcouye (Liam Cullen 58); Ronald (Gustavo Nunes 58), Melker Widell (Jisung Eom 76), Zan Vipotnik (Adam Idah 70).
Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Ishe Samuels-Smith, Leo Walta, Sam Parker.
Sheffield United: Adam Davies, Japhet Tanganga (captain), Tyler Bindon, Gustavo Hamer (Tom Davies 79), Callum O'Hare, Andre Brooks (Tom Cannon 59), Harrison Burrows, Femi Seriki, Sydie Peck (Tahith Chong 85), Jairo Riedewald (Joe Rothwell 59), Patrick Bamford.
Unused Substitutes: Luke Faxon, Oliver Arblaster, Leo Hjelde, Ki-Jana Hoever, Chiedozie Ogbene.
Referee: Dean Whitestone
Attendance: 26,457