Report | West Bromwich Albion 3 Swansea City 2

Two goals in the opening 11 minutes were not enough to secure victory as Swansea City fell to defeat against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.

Head coach Vitor Matos had seen his side make a dream start as Zan Vipotnik opened the scoring after just 12 seconds for the second-fastest goal scored in the Championship since is rebranding in 2004.

Ethan Galbraith then doubled Swansea’s lead from distance and the visitors retained that two-goal advantage at the interval.

However, two goals within the opening seven minutes of the second half by Aune Heggebo saw Albion draw level and turn the game on its head.

And the home side struck a winner with six minutes to go when Jayson Molumby was able to turn the ball home from a lay-off in the area.

The Swans had made three changes from defeat to Derby as Marko Stamenic, Goncalo Franco and Zeidane Inoussa came in for Jay Fulton, Liam Cullen and Ronald respectively.

They could hardly have wished for a better start. From kick-off Franco played Vipotnik through on goal with a superb first-time pass and the Slovenian calmly lofted the ball over the advancing keeper to find the net after just 12 seconds.

Swansea soon threatened again, Franco won the ball to feed Vipotnik who in turn sent the ball onto Inoussa.

The Swede beat Callum Styles on the byline and went down as the Baggies man chased him into the box, but the referee waved away penalty appeals.

Vipotnik was heavily involved and lashed a firm drive goalward that Griffiths just about parried, although the offside flag was soon up.

But Griffiths could not keep out Galbraith’s thumping strike after Swansea had once again pressed high and moved the ball sharply in transition.

The Northern Irish midfielder’s strike dipped as it reached the keeper, who ended up misjudging the flight and pushing the ball high into the net.

Lawrence Vigouroux held a bobbling strike from distance by Mikey Johnston as the home side sought a way back into the game, with the Chile international denying the same player when Swansea failed to clear a low cross from Sam Ilung-Junior.

Heggebo nodded a cross over the bar 10 minutes before the break as the hosts pressed without really creating a genuinely threatening opportunity.

Swansea then ought to have done better when Jisung Eom’s pressing saw Griffiths send a stray pass straight to Inoussa, but the winger’s attempted cross for the Korean was weak and did not reach its target.

The Swans retained their lead at the break and Baggies head coach Ryan Mason rolled the dice with four half-time changes as Josh Maja, Karlan Grant, George Campbell and Krystian Bielik being introduced.

And the hosts found the net barely 30 seconds into the second half as the referee allowed play to continue despite Franco being down with a head injury, and Heggebo sent a low left-footed strike into the net.

That lifted the crowd and set up by far the home side’s best spell of the game so far, and they levelled when a corner was not fully cleared and Heggebo hit a low shot into the ground and it bounced up and into the net.

With the scores level the pressure on the Swansea area only intensified but the visitors managed to weather the storm and could have made more of a couple of promising opportunities to counter-attack.

Johnston flashed an excellent ball across the face of the Swansea goal as the final 20 minutes arrived, before Alex Mowatt sent a volley wastefully wide from the edge of the box.

Vigouroux then made a crucial save to tip Johnston's goal-bound effort away for a corner, but there was nothing he could do when Molumby was teed up from a cross into the area and sent a low effort into the bottom corner.

West Bromwich Albion: Josh Griffiths, Chris Mepham, Nathaniel Phillips (Krystian Bielik 46), Callum Styles, Jayson Molumby, Mikey Johnston, Alfie Gilchrist (George Campbell 46), Aune Heggebo (Ousmane Diakite 92_, Isaac Price (Josh Maja 46), Samuel Iling-Junior (Karlan Grant 46), Alex Mowatt (captain).

Unused Substitutes: Joe Wildsmith, Krystian Bielik, Daryl Dike, Tammer Bany, Charlie Taylor.

Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key (Liam Cullen 76), Ben Cabango (captain), Cameron Burgess, Josh Tymon; Marko Stamenic (Jay Fulton 76), Goncalo Franco, Ethan Galbraith; Jisung Eom (Melker Widell 54), Zeidane Inoussa (Ronald 55), Zan Vipotnik (Adam Idah 64).

Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Ishe Samuels-Smith, Ricardo Santos, Kaelan Casey.

Referee: Tom Nield