Report | Swansea City 2 Middlesbrough 2

Swansea City and Middlesbrough battled themselves almost to a standstill as an absorbing end-of-season encounter ended all-square at the Swansea.com Stadium.

The visitors had taken an early lead through Alex Bangura, but were pegged back when Zan Vipotnik converted from the penalty spot after a foul on Liam Cullen.

The Slovenian then scored from the spot for a second time in first-half stoppage time – and took his tally to 20 league goals this season – to give Swansea the half-time lead.

The second half continued to be a frantic affair, and Tommy Conway would give the promotion-chasing visitors a point when he also scored a penalty inside the final 20 minutes.

The Swans had shown four changes with Sam Parker being joined by Jay Fulton, Jisung Eom and Liam Cullen in the starting line-up.

The visitors, who knew a win would move them back into the automatic promotion places, started positively, twice forcing the home side into scrambled clearances during the opening five minutes.

Swansea responded with one promising attack led by Melker Widell, that ended with Eom’s cross being cleared.

But they fell behind when the visitors surged onto a loose ball and Bangura was able to lash a rising strike beyond Lawrence Vigouroux.

The hosts had penalty appeals waved away as Luke Ayling brought down a cross into the Boro area, but replays showed the captain had used his chest and not an arm.

Vigouroux saved from David Strelec as the away side’s early onslaught continued but Swansea lifted the pressure with a prolonged spell in the Middlesbrough half and when Bangura rashly lunged at Cullen, he felled the Wales international and the referee pointed to the spot.

Vipotnik – as had been the case on Good Friday – took responsibility and calmly sent the keeper the wrong way to level the scores.

Middlesbrough swept straight back upfield from the restart, and it took superb covering from Fulton to cut out a threatening pass into the final third.

Great blocks from Ben Cabango and Cameron Burgess denied Riley McGree and Strelec respectively and Swansea again managed to clear their lines and establish a foothold in the game. 

Parker then surged down the right, and produced a lovely pass to pick out Vipotnik, whose first touch saw the ball sit up and the Slovenian could not connect with his attempted volley.

Parker soon threatened again, exchanging passes with Goncalo Franco to get to the byline and dig out a fine cross. Widell saw a shot blocked in the melee, with Vipotnik then lashing over.

It had been an absorbing half but the drama was not done as, in stoppage time, Sol Brynn needlessly flailed an arm at Eom as the Korean tried to round him from a long Franco pass and it was another Swansea penalty.

Vipotnik stepped up again, and once again finished with trademark calm to give Swansea the interval advantage.

Middlesbrough came out of the blocks sharply at the start of the second period and Matos elected to turn to his bench for fresh legs as Ronald, Stamenic and Adam Idah came on in place of Widell, Franco and Vipotnik.

Parker produced two lung-bursting runs to get the Swans back upfield with the youngster impressing as he grew into the game.

But Swansea needed a magnificent save from Vigouroux to keep them ahead, the keeper somehow getting a fingertip to an Aidan Morris strike to tip it around the post.

Kim Hellberg also turned to his bench shortly after the hour mark with the frenetic pace of the contest proving unrelenting.

The visitors had more of the territory and possession but were frustrated by a stubborn Swansea defence.

Cabango made a superb tackle on Tommy Conway after the forward had stolen into space down the Middlesbrough left.

Ronald wasted a great counter-attack opportunity when he was strayed too close to Finley Munroe when he had acres of space ahead to canter into.

But Boro were given the chance to level when Eom was adjudged to have fouled Callum Brittain in the area, and Conway converted from the spot to level matters.

The visitors pressed and pressed in search of a winner that would move them back into the top two, but the spoils were shared.

Swansea City: Lawrence VIgouroux; Sam Parker (Joel Ward 72), Ben Cabango (captain), Cameron Burgess, Josh Tymon; Jay Fulton (Malick Yalcouye 80), Goncalo Franco (Marko Stamenic 55), Liam Cullen; Jisung Eom, Melker Widell (Ronald 56); Zan Vipotnik (Adam Idah 56).

Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Gustavo Nunes, Leo Walta, Ricardo Santos.

Middlesbrough: Sol Brynn, Callum Brittain, Riley McGree (Kaly Sene 66), Tommy Conway, Luke Ayling (captain), David Strelec (Sontje Hansen 66), Alan Browne, Aidan Morris, Alex Bangura (Finley Munroe 34) (Alex Gilbert 80), Adilson Malanda, Jeremy Sarmiento (Dael Fry 66).

Unused Substitutes: Joe Wildsmith, Alex Gilbert, George Edmundson, Law McCabe, Cruz Ibeh.

Referee: Matthew Donohue

Attendance: 18,168