Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Coventry City and Swansea City at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Saturday | Liam Cullen and Oli Cooper score early as the Swans seal victory over the Sky Blues.
Saturday 21 September 2024 18:25, UK
Swansea earned their first points on the road this season by securing a 2-1 victory over Coventry at the CBS Arena.
Luke Williams' side raced into a two-goal lead in the opening half-hour thanks to goals from Liam Cullen and Oli Cooper, before Ronald's own goal gave Coventry a route back into the match.
It had been a miserable start away from the Swansea.com Stadium for the Welsh outfit, who had lost both of their previous away fixtures without scoring.
In a frantic first half, Swansea took the lead when Matt Grimes' free-kick dropped to the feet of Cullen and the forward made no mistake drilling home from close range.
Norman Bassette was making his first league start after his performance in the Sky Blues' agonising 2-1 defeat by Tottenham earlier in midweek and he forced Laurence Vigouroux into his first save with a powerful left-footed strike.
From the resulting corner, Bobby Thomas met Jack Rudoni's corner but he could not find the target with his improvised flick at goal.
The visitors also looked a threat from set-pieces throughout the first half as Harry Darling and Eom Ji-sung both went close from corners.
The Swans doubled their lead just past the half-hour mark when Wales international Cooper cut inside and fired into the bottom corner via a deflection.
Coventry wasted no time in halving the deficit when Rudoni took aim from distance and his effort cannoned off the head of Ronald past a helpless Vigouroux.
Bassette had a golden chance to equalise before the break when he met Jake Bidwell's deflected cross but could only head against the crossbar.
Brandon Thomas-Asante had also been given the nod in attack after his first Coventry goal in midweek, stinging the palms of Vigouroux after dragging two shots wide earlier in the half.
Ronald came close to atoning for his own goal immediately after the interval when his effort struck the outside of a post, while Josh Key flashed an effort over the crossbar.
Referee James Linnington briefly took the players off the pitch in the second half for safety reasons due to the inclement weather in the West Midlands and Coventry came out looking for their equaliser after the stoppage.
Former Liverpool stopper Vigouroux had to be alert again to keep out substitute Mason Ephron-Clark, who also fired over inside the last 10 minutes.
Fellow substitute Victor Torp also tried his luck from range before Coventry had appeals for a penalty waved away, leaving Mark Robins' side with only one win from their six league outings this season.
Coventry's Mark Robins:
"That will teach me (for not changing the side). Was it tiredness? It can't be that. The recovery that they've got. They've had time off, a recent international break, we've played a couple of games, and you expect them to be able to go again.
"In hindsight, I've picked the wrong team and should have freshened it up and generally I do, but I wanted to keep those together and give them another opportunity and it has come back to kick me.
"Hindsight is a brilliant thing. I spent a long time procrastinating and I don't normally do that, shall I do it, shall I make changes?
"I normally make changes and in the end I've gone with it and stuck with it and it hasn't worked today.
"There are no real positives to take because it just didn't look like us at all. We've got to get back at it and quickly because we need to start picking points up."
Swansea's Luke Williams:
"We deserved the win, the second half was far different but in the first half we were well valued for the two goals we scored.
"A few more games we will be able to understand if we're good, or if we've been somewhat fortunate when we've hit oppositions in a bad moment. I don't know yet.
"I'm waiting to see my group, to show me over 10, 12 games… OK this is us now.
"We've won back-to-back games for the first time so we should be pleased, now we have to continue otherwise it was frustrating that we didn't capitalise on a good moment."
