After Swansea City defeated rival Cardiff 2-0 at home, normal service was restored in the South Wales derby thanks to goals from Liam Cullen and Jamal Lowe that hardly represented Swansea City’s complete dominance.
Cardiff was always second best, even if they had come off a four-game winning streak that had raised hopes for a late promotion push.
Luke Williams, head coach of the Swans, remarked, “We won in a really positive way and I can’t argue with the way we went about it today.”
“I believe that what we’re all aiming for is the harmony of aggression and intensity with serenity and understanding.
“We created all of the big chances in the game and we were very dominant for the majority of it.”
After defeating their fierce rivals 2-0 in September in the capital, Cardiff even had the added motivation of achieving a league double for the first time.
But in the hotter moments of a consistently ferocious game, they were outwitted, outfought, and lacked composure, as in so many recent meetings.
As of right now, the Swans have defeated the Bluebirds eight times in the last eleven meetings, winning five of the last six.
After Cullen’s volley in the 34th minute, Swansea could even afford to let a penalty through to Cullen in the second half. Lowe’s goal deep into added time changed the look of the scoreline.
After Perry Ng fouled Ronald early in the second half, Cullen had a chance to double the lead, but he pulled his shot wide of the left-hand post after sending Bluebirds goalkeeper Ethan Horvath the wrong way.
During a completely one-sided first half, Harry Darling also headed against the crossbar.
Williams praised Cullen for his composure after scoring and for his ability to brush off his missed penalty.
Williams went on, “The first thing to talk about is his overall performance; he contested every ball and ran relentlessly.”
“There’s a lot to accomplish; it’s not easy to direct the ball and make it appear comfortable. It’s a goal fit for a striker.
“He has the guts to accept the punishment. Then he’s back where he should be. After making an inswinging cross, Ronald (Ronnie) heads the ball.
He’s unfortunate not to have scored, but in my opinion, strikers need to have the courage to be in the correct place to miss. He has the courage to face those repercussions.
Yakou Meite, a striker for Cardiff, was also lucky not to have been sent off for pushing his forehead into Darling’s face. In the Premier League, with the use of video assistant referees, this would have undoubtedly resulted in a red card.
The win has significantly hurt Cardiff’s chances of making the playoffs, but it should allay any remaining worries about the Swans getting drawn into a relegation struggle.
Manager of Cardiff Erol Bulut accused his players of “hiding” and showed no effort to conceal his displeasure.
Aaron Ramsey, the captain of Wales, was started by Bulut for his first game back from injury after a month, although it didn’t really matter.
They had one good opportunity during the entire game, when substitute Rubin Colwill sent a shot over, but an equalizer would have been unfair.
“We were hiding too much in the midfield,” stated Bulut. You are unable to escape the pressing if you are hiding.
“You must make the ball request. The early part of the game did not have this. We were able to handle things a little bit better when I made those adjustments in the second half by adding two players.
Disappointingly, we were unable to complete the double. The team and the club would have benefited greatly from this. You can’t, however, have everything.
“We can work after seeing how terrible the first half was and how much better the second half was.
We won’t give up or make a big deal out of this because we didn’t win.
“We will return strong after the international break and the remaining eight games. We will take good care of ourselves, train hard, and remember the last few weeks and how we worked to get back to where we were.”
Bulut rejected recommendations and charged Darling with diving. Meite’s head thrust should have made him see red.
He stated, “I believe it was an artistic movement from the Swansea player.”
“This is how I would dive into my pool. Undoubtedly, it wasn’t a red card.
As a result, Swansea climb to 15th place, seven points ahead of Huddersfield in 22nd.
With eight games left, Cardiff is still eight points outside of the play-offs pace in 11th place.