Report | Wycombe Wanderers 0 Swansea City 2
Swansea City extended their unbeaten start to the Championship season as first-half goals from Andre Ayew and Jamal Lowe secured all three points at Wycombe.
Steve Cooper’s side complete dominated the opening half at Adams Park, and were two goals to the good inside 23 minutes.
Ayew slid in to steer home his first goal of the season from Jake Bidwell’s excellent cross, before Lowe scored his first goal in Swansea colours after slick attacking build-up.
Wycombe offered greater resistance after the break, but the Swans were able to keep their third clean sheet in a row, making this the first time the club has started a Football League or Premier League season with three successive shut-outs.
The first-half showing would have been particularly pleasing for Cooper, with Morgan Gibbs-White among those in white to catch the eye as Swansea made it seven points from a possible nine.
The unchanged Swans made a bright start, bossing possession and winning it back high up the field when they did relinquish it.
Gibbs-White and Lowe delivered threatening balls into the Wycombe box, with the former setting up the latter for a chance that was fired wide on nine minutes.
Ayew and Korey Smith linked superbly a few moments later, but the Ghanaian could not find Gibbs-White waiting for the pull-back by the penalty spot.
But Ayew made no mistake as the visitors took the lead in the 13th minute.
Marc Guehi won the ball in the middle of the park and the ball was moved quickly to Bidwell, the wing-back’s cross was quality and Ayew did the rest from close range.
Wycombe were being torn apart, and keeper Ryan Allsop had to deny Ayew a second after he had beaten Ryan Tafazolli to Lowe’s pass.
Chances were coming with regularity, and Ayew and Gibbs-White wasted another fine opportunity after Bidwell had sat up an inviting cross to the back post; the pair getting in each other’s way as they looked to nod home.
But the Swans did double their lead in the 23rd minute. The movement was excellent again as Smith, Gibbs-White and Ayew combined to lay on Lowe’s first goal in a Swansea shirt.
Matt Grimes lifted a shot from the edge of the area over after Gibbs-White had rolled a corner into the Swansea skipper the Cooper’s side kept asking questions of the overworked home defence.
The home side did have a decent spell of pressure in the lead-up to half-time, but Freddie Woodman was not tested in the Swansea goal as the visitors took their two-goal lead into the interval.
Connor Roberts had a penalty appeal waved away early in the second half after Dennis Adeniran had challenged the wing-back.
Gibbs-White followed that up with a surging run forward to feed Lowe, but the attack rather fizzled out with the Swans not quite recapturing the fluency of much of their first-half showing.
Woodman made his first save of the afternoon on the hour mark, with the keeper easily holding Jason McCarthy’s free-kick after Ben Cabango had fouled Alex Samuel, before Allsop denied Bidwell at the near post.
Woodman then smartly held an overhead kick from Wycombe substitute Daryl Horgan as the home side sought a way back into the game, before Lowe was saw Allsop save his effort at the near post at the other end.
Gibbs-White was frustrated to be prevented from getting on the scoresheet by Allsop, while Ayew headed into the side-netting as the Swans eased to victory.
Wycombe Wanderers: Ryan Allsop, Jack Grimmer, Anthony Stewart, Ryan Tafazolli, David Wheeler (Scott Kashket 84), Matt Bloomfield (captain) (Josh Parker 76), Nick Freeman, Dennis Adeniran, Alex Samuel, Jason McCarthy, Fred Onyedinma. (Daryl Horgan 69).
Unused Substitutes: David Stockdale, Joe Jacobson, Giles Phillips, Curtis Thompson.
Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Ben Cabango, Joe Rodon, Marc Guehi; Connor Roberts, Korey Smith, Matt Grimes (captain), Jake Bidwell; Morgan Gibbs-White (Jay Fulton 82); Jamal Lowe (Liam Cullen 82), Andre Ayew.
Unused Substitutes: Steven Benda, Kyle Naughton, Wayne Routledge, Yan Dhanda, Kristoffer Peterson.
Referee: Geoff Eltringham
