Swansea 2-1 Manchester United
by Kadeem Simmonds
at the White Rock Stadium

SWANSEA came back from a goal down to defeat Manchester United 2-1 yesterday afternoon thanks to a mistake by goalkeeper Sergio Romero.

Juan Mata put the visitors ahead minutes into the second half, only for Andre Ayew to equalise and Romero to allow a tame Bafatimbi Gomis shot to squirm under his body to continue Garry Monk’s 100 per cent record over Louis van Gaal.

It was United who started the brighter of the two sides, testing Lukasz Fabianski’s goal early on.

As the rain poured down in south Wales, Swansea struggled to get into the game as Mata spurned two terrific chances early on.

Swansea’s first chance of the match fell to Gomis but his shot from the edge of the box was well off target.

A quick free-kick taken by Jonjo Shelvey managed to somehow squeeze its way through to Gylfi Sigurdsson, via Gomis, but the Iceland international skewed his shot wide.

And moments later, a Romero miskick fell to Shelvey but his volley didn’t have enough to beat the Argentinian No1.

Buoyed by the deafening noise of the crowd, the home side began to bombard the United goal and only a lick of paint came between Gomis opening the scoring for Swansea.

The game was back-and-forth and a Chris Smalling header found Wayne Rooney in the box but he managed to clear the crossbar, his shot more welcome at next month’s Rugby World Cup.

Just when Swansea thought they were getting a stranglehold on the game, Luke Shaw’s cross found Mata at the back post and the midfielder took his chance to put the visitors a goal up just minutes into the second half.

However, the Red Devils failed to kill the game off, a common theme under Van Gaal, and when a misplaced Rooney pass allowed Ashley Williams to launch a counter-attack, Andre Ayew found Sigurdsson out wide on the right.

The playmaker’s cross found Ayew, who had continued his run from deep, and he headed unmarked at the back post past Romero to draw the scores level.

The scorer turned provider minutes later. Ayew’s stunning through ball found Gomis and his shot somehow beat Romero, who should have done better at his near post.

To sum up United’s afternoon, a sublime touch by Rooney put him one-on-one with Fabiasnki late on but instead of shooting he allowed Williams to make a last-ditch challenge to secure all three points.