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Swansea logo
Championship | Gameweek 9
Oct 31, 2020 at 3pm UK
Liberty Stadium
Blackburn logo

Swansea
2 - 0
Blackburn

Cabango (25'), Ayew (61')
Ayew (19'), Bidwell (30'), Cabango (55')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Andre Ayew inspires Swansea to victory over Blackburn

The Ghanaian captained the side against Blackburn and also found the target.

Captain Andre Ayew led by example for Swansea, scoring the goal which sealed a 2-0 win over Blackburn which cut Reading's lead at the top of the Sky Bet Championship to four points.

Ayew – made skipper after club captain Matt Grimes was left among the substitutes – scored just past the hour mark after Ben Cabango's header had given the home side a 1-0 interval lead.

The routine victory made it four games unbeaten for Swansea, who climb to second in the table.

It also extended Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray's barren return in league matches against Swansea to seven games as a boss without a win.

Swansea were not at their free-flowing best, but with goalkeeper Freddie Woodman in solid form and Blackburn's threatening moments rarely sustained, it was a comfortable home win.

The visitors' early passing was crisp and incisive and they created an opportunity for Adam Armstrong from which he should have tested Woodman. Instead, the Blackburn marksman could only clip his shot wide.

Swansea's response was a defence-splitting pass from midfielder Yan Dhanda, but striker Jamal Lowe was not sharp enough to benefit.

Regular captain Grimes had surprisingly been left on the bench by Swans head coach Steve Cooper and in the midfielder's absence, the home side lacked their customary fluency.

But it did not stop them from taking the lead from a set-piece in the 25th minute when Cabango outmuscled Darragh Lenihan to power home a header from Connor Roberts' corner.

It was 20-year-old Wales central defender Cabango's second goal of the season, following his breakthrough in the previous campaign.

Ayew almost increased Swansea's lead when his downward header from Roberts' cross was tipped away by Blackburn goalkeeper Aynsley Pears.

But it was Rovers who ended the first half by mounting pressure and the combination of Armstrong and Ben Brereton caused moments of danger.

An awful header by Kyle Naughton left Armstrong in but Woodman was alert enough to smother the effort.

The Blackburn strike pair continued to cause problems after the break and it was a surprise when manager Mowbray chose to replace Brereton as part of a double substitution.

The impact was instant, but not in the way Mowbray had planned as his team fell 2-0 behind seconds later in the 61st minute.

Roberts did well to release Dhanda down the right and the former Liverpool man's perfect cross was met with a firm downward header by Ayew for his sixth goal of the season.

Swansea sent on Viktor Gyokeres late on but the striker, on loan from Brighton, was unable to profit from a couple of openings.

Blackburn faded in the final quarter and rarely looked likely to launch a comeback.

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Bournemouth manager Jason Tindall pictured on September 24, 2020
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2Leeds UnitedLeeds44279880374390
3Ipswich TownIpswich432611685533289
4Southampton43259985562984
5West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom4420121267442372
6Norwich CityNorwich442191477611672
7Hull City431812136254866
8Coventry CityCoventry4217121366521463
9Middlesbrough44189176460463
10Preston North EndPreston44189175661-563
11Cardiff CityCardiff44195205061-1162
12Bristol City441611175147459
13Sunderland44168205251156
14Swansea CitySwansea441511185762-556
15Watford441217155958153
16Millwall441411194355-1253
17Stoke CityStoke441311204460-1650
18Queens Park RangersQPR441311204157-1650
19Blackburn RoversBlackburn441310215874-1649
20Plymouth ArgylePlymouth441212205869-1148
21Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds44138233968-2947
22Birmingham CityBirmingham441210224864-1646
23Huddersfield TownHuddersfield44917184774-2744
RRotherham UnitedRotherham44412283285-5324


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