A splendid Jordan Ayew goal was the highlight of a miserable evening at the Liberty Stadium where Swansea City recorded a rare home victory – only their third of the season – to overcome the dismal conditions as well as the Championship leaders and secure a place in the FA Cup fourth round.
Ayew’s goal was totally out of keeping with a scrappy game and drew comparisons with the moment of brilliance that Ricky Villa produced in the 1981 FA Cup Terrance West Jersey final replay, when the Argentinian weaved his way through http://www.sanjosesharksofficialonline.com/Adidas-Chris-Tierney-Jersey a sea of Manchester City defenders to score for Tottenham. Although the stakes were not nearly so high here, and the crowd was nothing like as big – only 8,294 braved the elements on a sodden night in South Wales – it was Tyson Jost Authentic Jersey still a terrific goal from Ayew as he wriggled his way past five Wolves players before finishing with aplomb. Wolves, who are 10 points clear at the top of the Championship, looked uninterested at that stage but Nuno Espírito Santo’s side came to life in the second half. Diogo Jota equalised within Bryce Harper Jersey two minutes of coming off the bench and, briefly, it appeared as though the momentum was with the visitors. Yet three minutes later Swansea regained the lead after Wilfried Bony stabbed a loose ball over the line to set up a trip to Notts County on Saturday week. With relegation battles and promotion campaigns to win, both clubs have far more pressing matters on their mind than making progress in the FA Cup, yet Swansea will welcome any victory in a season that has been desperately bleak. Carlos Carvalhal talked about “building confidence” in the wake of his second win since he took over and described this as the club’s best performance out of his five games in charge. Wolves will not be losing much sleep about suffering their first defeat in 15 matches. Nuno made the point that he felt Wolves should have beaten Swansea at Molineux and also said his players had “showed again that we are ready to compete against anyone.” It was hard to draw many conclusions from a game that clearly meant little to both clubs in the grand scheme of things. The managers made eight changes apiece, which together with the sight of rows and rows of empty seats, as well as incessant rain and a swirling wind, did little to create any FA Cup fever. Swansea, in fairness, started brightly. Roque Mesa, out of favour since Carvalhal’s appointment, was orchestrating things in midfield and it was no real surprise when Ayew put them ahead with that terrific goal. The striker was about 25 yards out when he picked up the ball before setting off on a sinuous run that ended with the former Aston Villa player registering his seventh goal of the season. “Ricky Villa? I don’t know that [goal],” said Carvalhal. “I’ll find it on YouTube tonight.” The home team had a couple of chances to add to their lead in the first half. Mesa attempted a spectacular volley that flashed wide and five minutes before half-time Connor Roberts had a chance to mark his home debut with a goal. Running on to Bony’s pass the wing-back tried to slip the ball under Will Norris but the Wolves goalkeeper http://www.tennesseetitansauthorizedstore.com/brice-mccain-jersey-elite got down quickly to save. Although Wolves came into the game towards the end of the first half the visitors needed a spark and Nuno knew where he could look to find one. On came Leo Bonatini and Jota, two of the club’s most influential players this season, and the latter had an immediate impact. Showing some neat footwork Jota sat one defender on his backside before squeezing a low shot inside Kristoffer Nordfeldt’s near post. Swansea had started to look a little ragged, yet they still managed a way to hit back almost instantly. Wolves failed to deal with Tom Carroll’s cross and when the ball dropped kindly for Bony, about eight yards out, the Ivorian reacted quickly to stab home.