Swansea City 3-4 Birmingham City: Remarkable late drama as Swans are floored by late double

By James Dow

BIRMINGHAM City’s Auston Trusty was the hero after scoring a late winner against Swansea to send his side eight points clear of the relegation zone.

Goals from Scott Hogan, Tahith Chong, Lukas Jutkiewicz and Trusty ended a run of five winless games for the Blues in what was an action-packed match at the Swansea.com stadium.

The Swans started on the front foot with Joel Piroe having the first chance of the game three minutes.

His effort was well saved by Birmingham goalkeeper John Ruddy, with the rebound falling to Olivier Ntcham who fired wide of the post.

The Swans came close two minutes later when Liam Cullen was played through on goal but another good save by captain Ruddy denied the local boy his fifth league goal of the season.

New Blues signing Reda Khadra won a penalty for his side in the 13th minute when he was taken out by goalkeeper Andy Fisher following a poor back pass from defender Ben Cabango.

Hogan stepped up to score his 10th league goal of the season but Fisher will be disappointed that he did not keep out after diving the right way.

The Swans did not let the goal faze them and within 10 minutes of conceding they equalised through top goal scorer Piroe.

The Dutchman turned his defender and stuck the ball into the bottom right-hand corner to bring the hosts back level.

Swansea then took the lead through Cullen who had a simple tap-in from a low Joel Latibeaudiere cross in a period of the game where Swansea were the dominant side.

Just before half-time Piroe had the ball in the back of the net once again although it was quickly disallowed for offside.

The Swans started on the front foot in the second half when Piroe played a fantastic low ball through to left-back Ryan Manning who smashed the ball wide of the post

But in the 54th minute the Blues hit the home side on the break when former Manchester United man Chong raced through the Swansea defence and slotted the ball past Fisher with a confident finish.

The hosts re-took the lead three minutes later after an error from goalkeeper Ruddy who passed it straight into the feet of Piroe who tapped the ball into an empty net for his second of the game.

The Swans kept the pressure going and had a glorious chance to make it 4-2 when a neat series of passes ended with Ryan Manning taking a low shot which was well saved by Ruddy.

The Swans were down to 10 men for the last 10 minutes of the game due to an injury to Latibeaudiere and boss ~Martin having already made substitutions during three different intervals in the match.

The Blues took advantage when Jutkiewicz scored a 90th minute equaliser with a diving header.

Birmingham then pushed for the winning goal and in the final minute of the game Trusty rose highest to glance a header into the back of the net from a corner to cap an incredible closing stage of the game.

The result has dropped the Swans into a bottom half of the table with their next game being a tough trip to second in the league Sheffield United next Saturday.