Report | Swansea City 1 Portsmouth 0
Liam Cullen’s terrific strike saw Swansea City win back-to-back Championship games for the first time this season as they beat Portsmouth in a tense encounter at the Swansea.com Stadium.
The Wales international settled the contest when his left-footed effort flew into the top corner to provide the breakthrough and another valuable three points for the hosts.
It was no more than they deserved for a performance full of effort and desire, which had seen Ronald, Jisung Eom and Melker Widell all go close to opening the scoring.
Josh Murphy had threatened at the other end for Pompey, but was kept at bay as Lawrence Vigouroux kept a second clean sheet in four days and Swansea backed up victory over Oxford United and beat their south-coast opponents in a league fixture for the first time since 1960.
The Swans made just one change from the weekend win, with Adam Idah coming in for Zan Vipotnik up front, while Josh Key and Ishe Samuels-Smith returned to the matchday squad following illness.
The hosts made the brighter start, Ronald and Jisung Eom getting themselves into the area, with the latter rolling an inviting ball across the six-yard box that no white shirt was there to turn home.
At the other end Lawrence Vigouroux made an acrobatic save to deny Conor Chaplin, after Josh Murphy’s purposeful run had carried Pompey into the Swansea box.
Ethan Galbraith drove over after lovely link play between Ronald and Marko Stamenic had sent the Northern Ireland international careering into space down the right.
Galbraith was soon involved again, and his excellent cross was just beyond the reach of the arriving Ronald and Idah.
Josh Tymon had a cross headed away by Hayden Matthews as Swansea continued to look the more likely to find a goal, and Cameron Burgess headed the resulting corner narrowly over the bar after getting in front of his marker.
The Swans pressed again in the final minutes of the half, Idah did superbly to win the ball and he turned to feed Widell. The Swede showed wonderful skill to roll away from his marker and get away a snapshot that Nicolas Schmid managed to parry.
Ronald fired straight at Schmid early in the second half after being found in space by Widell, while Murphy sent a low effort scudding wide of the uprights a few minutes later and then forced Vigouroux to save at his near post.
Back came Swansea, Eom seeing his rising drive palmed over by Schmid after the winger had cut infield 30 yards from goal.
That started a period of extended pressure for the home side as they won a succession of corners, with Ronald having a volley blocked over the bar after a smart turn in the box.
Substitute Zan Vipotnik ruffled the side-netting from an acute angle, and fellow sub Zeidane Inoussa sent a low effort into the waiting gloves of Schmid inside the final 20 minutes.
Swansea then had penalty appeals waved away when Galbraith was chopped down by Murphy as he entered the Portsmouth area, much to the home side’s chagrin.
But the Swans finally broke the deadlock with 12 minutes remaining after a flowing attack saw Inoussa roll the ball into Cullen, who fired an unstoppable curling strike high into the net.
Schmid then tipped a ferocious Ronald drive around the post as the hosts finished the stronger to take the spoils.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux, Ethan Galbraith (Kaelan Casey 90), Ben Cabango (captain), Cameron Burgess, Josh Tymon; Marko Stamenic, Goncalo Franco (Malick Yalcouye 72), Melker Widell (Liam Cullen 56); Ronald, Jisung Eom (Zeidane Inoussa 72), Adam Idah (Zan Vipotnik 56).
Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Josh Key, Jay Fulton, Ishe Samuels-Smith.
Portsmouth: Nicolas Schmid, Marlon Pack (captain), John Swift, Hayden Matthews, Ibane Bowat, Zak Swanson (Jordan Williams 50), Josh Murphy, Terry Devlin, Conor Chaplin (Adrian Segecic 70), Yang Min-Hyeok (Harvey Blair 70), Callum Lang Colby Bishop 71).
Unused Substitutes: Josef Bursik, Luke Le Roux, Mark Kosznovszky, Makenzie Kirk, Ashton Sizer.
Referee: Tom Reeves