Derby County 1-2 Swansea City: Ronald, Zan Vipotnik get Luke Williams' Swans back to winning ways

Zan Vipotnik and Ronald scored early in the first half to help Swansea bounce back from successive defeats with a 2-1 victory at Derby.

The Rams had only lost once at Pride Park since their return to the Sky Bet Championship but were staring down the barrel at a second on home turf when early goals from Vipotnik and Ronald handed the Swans a deserved half-time lead.

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing dispatched from the penalty spot to give Derby hope of salvaging something from the contest but Swansea withstood a barrage of late pressure to hand the Rams just a second defeat in their last nine.

County made six changes from their draw with Preston and were without loanee Jerry Yates, who was ineligible to play against his parent club, while Luke Williams opted to bring Kyle Naughton and Vipotnik into the Swans side, a call which immediately paid dividends.

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Swansea put themselves in front with 107 seconds on the clock thanks to a moment of brilliance. Myles Peart-Harris' cross found Vipotnik, who touched out of his feet and sent a rocket past Jacob Widell Zetterstrom.

The hosts wanted a penalty after Callum Elder was brought down under a challenge inside the area but referee Ben Toner waved away the appeals.

Swansea were too slick for their opponents in the early stages and made their opponents pay for a lazy start with a second goal.

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Derby were caught in transition and Liam Cullen fed into Ronald, who slotted home in an ice-cool fashion inside the box.

he Rams were simply not at the races and the visitors were passing it around their opponents with ease until Widell Zetterstrom's injury allowed boss Paul Warne to gather his players.

They upped their intensity and Lawrence Vigouroux was called into action for the first time as he turned Curtis Nelson's close-range header behind.

Derby were coming back into the contest and ought to have had a goal - Vigouroux made a mess of a cross and Kayden Jackson was unable to capitalise as he saw his snapshot bounce off a post.

The hosts should have cut the deficit in half after the restart as Marcus Harness saw his volley saved by the diving Vigouroux and Jackson was unable to turn home the rebound from two yards out in front of an open goal.

Derby were given the chance to score from the penalty spot after former Derby defender Cyrus Christie brought down substitute Tom Barkhuizen inside the area and Mendez-Laing made no mistake from 12 yards.

The hosts ramped up the pressure in search of an equaliser, Jackson coming close only to watch his deflected effort bounce straight into the grasp of Vigouroux again as Swansea held on to take the points back to south Wales.

The managers

Derby's Paul Warne:

"We conceded two and didn't get close enough, weren't aggressive enough, not enough body contact and looked soft, that's my fault.

"Maybe I didn't message it properly. Sometimes it doesn't come down to shape and tactics but I thought that was what the difference was.

"Credit Swansea for the win but after the 25 mins it looked like we would score. I really enjoyed it, that's the truth. I had 70 minutes of a team giving everything, I don't think we've had that many attempts in the Championship this season.

"It's a rude awakening, last year we would've won that 4-2."

Swansea's Luke Williams:

"We started the game very well, we were good up until we scored the second goal then we lost the grip on the game and I thought Derby were the better team.

"The next thing for us we have to be able to maintain that level throughout the game and we weren't able to do that to be quite honest today.

"They made it difficult, reacted very well after the second goal and didn't go under, far from it."

"We've recently conceded late goals but they're a very resilient group and we saw it out in the end.

"We've dominated games a lot but probably failed to score when we've been that dominant and tonight we managed to score the goals when we were dominant.

"We scored the goals at the right time today."

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