Jermaine Easter’s first Swansea City goal gave Brendan Rodgers’ side a vital home win against Barnsley at the Liberty Stadium this afternoon.
Our first half domination finally saw us open the scoring just before the half-hour mark as Nathan Dyer linked up well with Stephen Dobbie before providing the cross for the MK Dons striker to finish.
Brendan Rodgers made 6 changes to the team that lost 4-0 away at QPR on Boxing Day, as the likes of Stephen Dobbie, David Cotterill and Jermaine Easter were given starts. Monk had a surprise place on the bench as both Tate and Taylor featured at the back.
It’s not easy watching the Swans sometimes and yet again they gave the 15,000 Swans fans another nervous end to a home match, as we rode our luck as Barnsley looked to punish us late on for not taking our chances.
Nathan Dyer was Swanse’s biggest threat throughout the 90 minutes and a lot of our attacking play was through the right winger and he helped create the winning goal after a great start that saw us create a number of chances.
Ashley Williams headed over, Alan Tate had a shot blocked and Stephen Dobbie was also willing to try his luck from distance but he Scot was off target.
Dobbie nearly created a goal himself as he put Easter through on goal. The striker slipped but Cotterill was there to take over, but he lost the ball as he tried to round the goalkeeper.
After Easter’s opening goal on 26 minutes, the loanee then went close to getting a second just minutes later but his diving header from Cotterill’s cross went wide. The frontman went close yet again as we looked to go into the break with a bigger lead, but his header again was denied by the crossbar.
Hamill went close just before half time to giving the Tykes an undeserved equaliser as his 20-yard free-kick went just wide of the target.
Barnsley came out a much better side in the second half and they began creating more clear-cut chances as they looked to put the scores level.
Lovre fired just wide from outside the penalty area, whilst at the other end Dobbie saw another shot fly over the bar. Luke Steele was then forced into making a good save from an excellent acrobatic effort from Orlandi.
Dyer continued to cause problems down the flank and he picked out Dobbie but his shot was well saved by Steele. Barnsley were far from out of this game though despite the Swans creating more chances and having a number of corners along the way.
De Vries made two or three good saves in the final 15 minutes or so to maintain our slim lead as Lovre and Hayes were denied by the in-form Dutchman.
Scott Sinclair was then brought on as a further attacking option and he had a few excellent chances as well as creating opportunities for others to put the game beyond doubt. He made a few good runs inside from the left and he also did well to pick out Dyer, but his close range shot was superbly kept out by Steele.
Swansea: Dorus de Vries; Angel Rangel, Alan Tate (C), Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor; Mark Gower (Darren Pratley, 69′), Andrea Orlandi, Stephen Dobbie (Scott Sinclair, 80′); Nathan Dyer, David Cotterill; Jermaine Easter (Joe Allen, 63′).
Not Used: Yves Makabu-Makalambay (GK), Garry Monk, Kemy Agustien, Craig Beattie.
Barnsley: Luke Steele; Bobby Hassell, Jason Shackell (C), Stephen Foster, Kieran Trippier, Nathan Doyle (Diego Arismendi, 66′), Jim O’Brien (Jacob Butterfield, 71′), Hugo Colace, Adam Hammill, Goran Lovre, Andy Gray (Paul Hayes, 68′).
Not Used: David Preece (GK), Jeronimo Neumann, Steve Bennett, Matt Hill.
Attendance: 15,093 Away: 208
Referee: G L Ward (Surrey)
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