Report | Swansea City 4 Blackburn Rovers 0

Ross Stewart scored on his first start as Swansea City returned to winning ways in style with a comprehensive 4-0 victory against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday afternoon.

Stephen Eustaquio opened the scoring before Joseph Opoku doubled the Swans' advantage with his third goal of the campaign. 

Filip Lissah then netted his first senior goal for the club to make it three before the break, with Stewart rounding off a dominant afternoon for the Swans as they produced an impressive response to last weekend’s defeat against Queens Park Rangers.

Head coach Vitor Matos made three changes to the side that lined up at Loftus Road, with Jay Fulton, Jisung Eom and Stewart all returning to the fold, the latter making his first start.

Keen to make a fast start, it was the home side who made a delightful start to proceedings, netting the opening goal inside ten minutes. 

Josh Tymon’s ball from the left found its way towards Opoku, whose clever return cross picked out Eustaquio to sweep home his second goal of the season.

The Swans continued to create chances, with Eom next to take aim, curling a free-kick agonisingly wide of Balazs Toth’s goal as the hosts searched for a second.

Opoku doubled Swansea’s lead midway through the first half. Eustaquio’s through ball was helped on by a defensive mistake from Tom Atcheson, allowing the Ghanaian time to pounce and fire an effort beyond the onrushing Toth.

It got even better for the Swans just five minutes later. Stephen Welsh’s trademark diagonal pass picked out Filip Lissah down the right, and an excellent first touch allowed him to beat Gady Beyuku before powering home his first senior goal for Swansea City.

The hosts should have added to their lead just before half-time. A well-worked move resulted in Eustaquio flashing a lovely ball across the box, but Stewart couldn’t quite get on the end of it as the Swans took a three-goal advantage into the break.

The Swans carried their momentum into the second half, with Toth standing strong to deny Stewart’s downward strike after Eustaquio had worked his way through the Rovers backline.

Continuing their impressive play, Stewart added the Swans’ fourth goal of the afternoon on 58 minutes. Tymon’s ball was cleverly dummied by Eom, allowing the Scotsman to race through and fire into the roof of the net with his weaker left foot.

Matos made numerous changes during the second half, with Tiago Parente introduced to make his Swans debut, while Josh Key took to the field for the first time since early September after recovering from a hamstring injury.

In the dying embers, Eom’s cross from the right found Opoku, but he couldn’t keep his effort down as the Swans rounded off a significant response in front of the Jack Army.

Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Filip Lissah (Josh Key 78’), Ben Cabango (captain), Stephen Welsh, Josh Tymon (Tiago Parente 72’); Jay Fulton, Stephen Eustaquio (Adam Idah 72’), Melker Widell (Goncalo Franco 60’); Joseph Opoku, Jisung Eom, Ross Stewart (Zan Vipotnik 60’).

Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Josh Key, Jenson Seelt, Elijah Just, Jeremy Monga.

Blackburn Rovers: Balázs Tóth, Ryan Alebiosu, Harry Pickering (Gady Beyuku 24’), Tom Atcheson (Hayden Carter 46’), Andri Gudjohnsen (Yuki Ohashi 78’), Todd Cantwell (captain), Jayden Fevrier (Augustus Kargbo 46’), Sean McLoughlin Oladapo Afolayan, Moussa Baradji (Yuri Ribeiro 78’) Kristi Montgomery.

Substitutes: Aynsley Pears, Dion De Neve,, Jake Garrett, Isaac Dunn. 

Attendance: 16,867