Report | Swansea City 1 Bristol City 2 (AET)
Swansea City bowed out of the FA Cup as Bristol City edged a hard-fought third-round replay after extra-time at the Swansea.com Stadium.
The Swans had enjoyed the better of a first-half low on goalmouth action but they fell behind after the break when Mark Sykes ran onto a through ball to send a low effort into the net.
The hosts levelled as Ollie Cooper fired home within seconds of coming on as a substitute with 17 minutes to go, and neither side could find a winner in the remainder of the original 90 minutes.
Swansea continued to press in extra-time and had their chances, but Sam Bell produced an excellent run and finish to settle the tie in favour of the away side, with the Robins scoring from their only two shots on target compared with the hosts tally of six.
The Swans had made seven changes from the weekend win at Sunderland as Andy Fisher, Kyle Naughton, Nathan Wood, Luke Cundle, Olivier Ntcham, Matty Sorinola and Cameron Congreve came into the side.
In freezing conditions it proved to be something of a cagey start, but Ntcham offered the first spark of the game as he forced Max O’Leary into a save with a low shot from Congreve’s lay off.
Nice work by Naughton then allowed Matt Grimes and Congreve to take play on, but the final pass was cut out as Ntcham waited on the edge of the area.
Joel Piroe then tried to work room for a shot after fine build up only to be crowded out, while Robins defender Zak Vyner had reason to be grateful for the reflexes of keeper O’Leary, who clawed away his sliced clearance as it headed for the net.
Ntcham was proving lively, and he saw an effort blocked after another astute infield pass from Congreve, before the visitors threatened through a good run from Cameron Pring that ended with Rob Atkinson just unable to get a head to his cross.
It was goalless at the break and the two keepers retreated to the relative warmth of their respective dressing rooms having yet to be meaningfully tested.
The second half started in the same pattern as the first, Swansea dominating the ball and the visitors sitting in and trying to soak up attacks and break.
Joel Latibeaudiere gave O’Leary some work to do by driving through the middle and hitting a low strike that the keeper could only parry, with Sorinola unable to finish from the rebound.
Piroe sent an angled drive across the face of goal a few moments later before a brilliant Swansea move from back to front ended with Ntcham dragging his final strike across the face of goal.
Swansea were upping the ante, O’Leary holding Congreve’s strike after the youngster had instigated a series of give-and-go passes around the edge of the area.
But the Swans instead conceded just beyond the hour mark when Sykes ran on to a through ball from Joe Williams and steered the ball beyond the advancing Fisher.
The home side were quickly back on the front foot, a good block allowing O’Leary to gather Naughton’s shot after a fierce Ntcham strike had bobbled about in the area.
An excellent cross from Sorinola then nearly picked out Liam Cullen with a great cross before a double substitution paid rich dividends for the Swans.
Ryan Manning and Cooper came on from the bench, and from the immediate passage of play the midfielder was on hand to fire home to level at the far stick.
All the momentum was with Swansea, and O’Leary held a firm strike from Cundle after Manning had rolled the ball infield.
Back came Bristol City, Semenyo twice doing well to control low crosses into the box, but finding team-mates not anticipating his neat lay-offs, allowed Latibeaudiere to twice hack clear inside the final five minutes.
The snow arrived as the tie entered five minutes of stoppage time with the two sides pressing in order to try and avoid extra-time, but the additional 30 minutes would be required.
Swansea spurned a great chance inside the opening two minutes, Cundle heading wide after slick play between Jay Fulton and Latibeaudiere.
Semenyo had a shot blocked by Wood, while Cullen headed over from a Fulton cross and O’Leary did well to get fingertips to a Manning volley and guide it over the bar.
Fulton’s low drive rolled wide of the far post with Swansea having the better of things, but half-time in extra-time came and went with no addition to the score.
The visitors spurned a gilt-edged chance to win it when Semenyo rolled his man in the box and sent an inviting ball across the face of goal that Bell could not quite reach.
Cullen glanced a Fulton cross wide at the other end, and then volleyed wildly over after a sensational turn from Cooper on halfway.
But the Robins struck the decisive blow a few minutes later, Bel getting the run on his man on halfway before cutting inside and finding the net via the underside of the crossbar.
Still Swansea had opportunities to force penalties, but Naughton sent a strike narrowly wide and Fulton could not keep down his effort from a Manning cross.
Swansea City: Andy Fisher; Joel Latibeaudiere, Nathan Wood, Ben Cabango, Kyle Naughton; Matt Grimes (captain) (Joe Allen 91), Olivier Ntcham (Jay Fulton 91), Luke Cundle; Cameron Congreve (Ollie Cooper 73), Matt Sorinola (Ryan Manning 73), Joel Piroe (Liam Cullen 62).
Unused Substitutes: Steven Benda, Harry Darling, Lincoln McFayden, Joel Cotterill.
Bristol City: Max O'Leary, Kal Naismith (Andy King 101), Rob Atkinson, Matty James (captain) (Omar Taylor-Clarke 101), Alex Scott (Joe Williams 58), Antoine Semenyo, Cameron Pring (Jay Dasilva 89), Mark Sykes, George Tanner, Nahki Wells (Sam Bell 57), Zak Vyner.
Unused Substitutes: Dan Bentley, Dylan Kadji.
Referee: Graham Scott
Attendance: 10,030