Report | Swansea City 3-0 Argyle
Argyle suffered a 3-0 defeat to Swansea City on Wednesday night.
First-half goals from Lewis O’Brien, Harry Darling and Matt Key secured the Welsh side three points at the Swansea.com Stadium.
The Greens travelled to Wales with just one change from Saturday's victory over Norwich City. Darko Gyabi replaced Jordan Houghton in the centre of midfield.
Conor Hazard was in goal, behind the same defensive trio of Julio Pleguezuelo, Kornel Szucs and Nikola Katic. Bali Mumba and Matty Sorinola patrolled the wings, with Adam Randell joining Gyabi in the centre of midfield. Argyle’s attacking trio of Ryan Hardie, Michael Obafemi and Mustapha Bundu remained unchanged.
Early into the tie, Swansea won the ball off Randell in the middle of the park, moved play out to the right and delivered into the area, finding an unmarked O’Brien, who guided his diving header into the bottom right corner of Hazard’s goal.
Just minutes later, the hosts tested Argyle’s defensive line once again, but the delivery - which ricocheted off the back of Gyabi - was gathered by Hazard.
The best chance of the half came in the 20th minute for Argyle. After Gyabi was fouled on the edge of the area, a curling Randell effort was pushed away from the goal for a throw-in by Lawrence Vigouroux.
A quick counter from the Welsh side soon reaped rewards. After the Greens’ stand-in captain was shown a yellow card, for a foul on Ji-Sung Eom, the South Korean forward delivered an accurate ball into the area, which was headed home by Darling.
Another strong chance for Argyle came just after the half-hour mark but Obafemi’s dinked pass to an unmarked Bundu at the back post ran out of play and out for a goal kick.
Two turned to three in the 35th minute. After picking up the ball inside Argyle’s half, Key fired a looping long-range effort at Hazard, which beat the keeper and found the back of the net.
Several chances fell for the hosts in the minutes after the third, and they should have potentially had a fourth. After losing the ball in the middle of the park, a quick break ended with Ronald having the ball at his feet 10 yards out from goal, but he fired his effort over the bar.
Argyle had the chance to pull a goal back just before the half-time whistle, but Obafemi’s shot from inside the area was blocked by a recovering Darling tackle.
Before the second-half restart, Head Coach Miron Muslic turned to his bench for an immediate impact - bringing on Jordan Houghton, Callum Wright and Tymoteusz Puchacz - and nearly had it. A corner into a box was headed towards goal by the Argyle number four and nearly spilt by Vigouroux, but eventually was cleared away.
Seconds later, Zan Vipotnik should’ve added a fourth for Swansea. The forward found himself completely free inside the Argyle area but fired his effort over the bar.
The attacking onslaught continued, this time coming from the head of Ben Cabango. The Swansea captain found himself with a free header inside the area but couldn’t turn his header on target.
Argyle had Hazard to thank on the hour mark to stop the game from having its fourth goal. A reactive double-save from the Northern Irishman stopped an Eom headed attempt from crossing the goal line. Soon after, another shot at goal from the South Korean nearly troubled Argyle, however it was off-target and out for a goal kick.
Muslic made his last changes of the evening in the final 25 minutes, bringing on Freddie Issaka and Victor Palsson for Hardie and Pleguezuelo, who was booked for a foul in the corner of Argyle’s final third just minutes prior.
The hosts held possession and created a few chances in front of goal to end the tie, but none to harm Hazard and the Argyle defence, and claimed three midweek points at home.
Argyle: 21 Conor Hazard, 2 Bali Mumba, 5 Julio Pleguezuelo (44 Victor Palsson, 78), 6 Kornel Szucs (17 Tymoteusz Puchacz, 45), 9 Ryan Hardie (35 Freddie Issaka, 65), 14 Michael Obafemi (11 Callum Wright, 45), 15 Mustapha Bundu, 18 Darko Gyabi, 20 Adam Randell (capt) (4 Jordan Houghton, 45), 25 Nikola Katic, 29 Matty Sorinola. Substitutes: 31 Daniel Grimshaw (gk), 3 Nathanael Ogbeta, 8 Joe Edwards, 26 Muhamed Tijani.
Booked: Randell 21, Pleguezuelo 72
Swansea: 22 Lawrence Vigouroux, 2 Josh Key (26 Kyle Naughton, 82), 5 Ben Cabango(capt), 6 Harry Darling, 7 Joe Allen (4 Jay Fulton, 63), 8 Lewis O’Brien, 9 Zan Vipotnik, 10 Ji-Sung Eom (41 Sam Parker, 82), 14 Josh Tymon, 17 Goncalo Franco (31 Ollie Cooper, 75), 35 Ronald (19 Florian Bianchini, 75). Substitutes: 33 Jon McLoughlin, 20 Liam Cullen, 23 Cyrus Christie, 28 Hannes Delacroix.
Goals: O’Brien 4, Darling 22, Key 35
Attendance: 14,978 (1,087 away)
Referee: Stephen Martin
