Report | Swansea City 1 Derby County 2
Swansea City suffered defeat in Vitor Matos’ first game as head coach as a goal in each half gave Derby County the three points at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Joe Ward’s close-range header had given the Rams the interval lead, although Swansea could consider themselves unfortunate to be behind having dominated possession and territory, with Jisung Eom going closest to a goal for the hosts.
But they fell further behind when Lars-Jorgan Salvesen capitalised on poor defending early in the second half and, while Ethan Galbraith fired home a goal in stoppage time, there was no way back for Swansea.
There were some encouraging glimpses of a change in emphasis, particularly in that opening half and the Portuguese will hope more time for he and his players to work together will allow them to build on those glimpses.
Matos had made four changes from the defeat to Bristol City as Jay Fulton made his 300th Swansea appearance, while Ben Cabango, Josh Tymon and Zan Vipotnik also came into the starting line-up.
The new Swans boss had had little time to work with his new charges, but there was a notable energy about how the home side opened proceedings.
They dominated possession and harried their opponents without it, and a ferocious strike from Vipotnik capped off one particularly crisp attack.
Patrick Agyemang fired over for Derby at the other end but the Swans went right back up the other end with Tymon and Vipotnik firing threatening crosses into the Rams’ penalty area.
Salvesen nodded a header into Lawrence Vigouroux’s gloves from a Ben Brereton Diaz delivery.
Eom nearly profited from good pressing work by Vipotnik as his low show as palmed away by Jacob Widell Zetterstrom in the Derby goal.
But it was the visitors who took the lead when a switch of play to the left allowed Callim Elder to swing in a terrific cross, and Ward arrived at the far post to head home.
Zetterstrom held an Eom header from a deep Josh Key cross in the final moments of the first half, before Liam Cullen swept over from the Korean’s pull-back as the Swans trailed at the break.
The Swans had a let-off when Tymon intervened to deny Agyemang a tap-in from Salvesen’s centre, but there was no reprieve when the hosts failed to clear their lines twice and Salvesen took full advantage to steer the ball high into the net.
Swansea should have responded immediately, but Eom’s cross was just behind the arriving Fulton and he could not make clean contact.
Agyemang fired over after the Swans had given up possession cheaply in their own half, while Brereton Diaz did likewise from a half-cleared corner.
Swansea began to settle after that spell, and Cabango had a great chance to pull a goal back but could only direct a header straight at Zetterstrom.
At the other end Vigouroux denied fellow Chile international Brereton Diaz from a Derby breakaway but there was hope for Swansea when Galbraith pounced on a poor clearance to send a firm drive high into the net.
But the visitors saw out the final moments to claim all three points and condemn the Swans to a fourth defeat in a row.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key, Ben Cabango (captain), Cameron Burgess, Josh Tymon; Jay Fulton (Marko Stamenic 57), Ethan Galbraith, Liam Cullen (Goncalo Franco 57); Ronald (Manuel Benson 57), Jisung Eom (Zeidane Inoussa 74), Zan Vipotnik (Adam Idah 83).
Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Melker Widell, Ishe Samuels-Smith, Kaelan Casey.
Derby County: Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, Danny Batth, Matt Clarke, Sondre Langas, Patrick Agyemang (Andreas Weimann 80), Lars-Jorgen Salvesen (Kayden Jackson 71), Callum Elder, Joe Ward (Ryan Nyambe 80), Ben Brereton Diaz, Ebou Adams (captain), Bobby Clark.
Unused Substitutes: Josh Vickers, Craig Forsyth, Corey Blackett-Taylor, Liam Thompson, Curtis Nelson, Owen Eames.
Referee: Andrew Kitchen
Attendance: 14,251