First thing's first, don't assume from the title of this article that the Swans weren't good value for three points - over the course of 90 minutes I thought they were the better side. That being said, Wigan can consider themselves the architects of their own downfall. They showed last night (as they have often this season) that in terms of footballing ability they are an excellent side - the problem is that they seem incapable of going an entire match without succumbing to at least one catastrophic defensive failure.
The game started with changes to both sides, some enforced, some tactical. Chico didn't travel due to bruising of the foot and arm, and was replaced by Monk, while Dyer made way for Tiendalli as Laudrup likely looked to contain Shaun Maloney on the Wigan left. Ki couldn't recover from a dead leg in time so didn't figure, while Shechter came in for Michu up top. The early signs were good - Shechter almost broke through before Routledge seized on a loose pass and went charging down the right into the box. His shot was likely going into the side-netting but Robles in the Wigan goal could take no chances and pushed it out for a corner, though Wigan cleared it easily.
Next up Arouna Kone found some space (worryingly easily) but his powerful drive was straight at Vorm, who parried away to safety. The Swansea keeper was almost then embarrassed by Shaun Maloney, the winger close to mugging the Dutchman of possession after the stopper took his time clearing from a backpass, but the referee adjudged the challenge was unfair and Vorm was spared his blushes. Remarkably, at the other end a very similar incident then resulted in Robles picking up the ball after Gary Caldwell appeared to play it backwards, and this time the referee adjudged it to be a backpass and the Swans had a free-kick 12 yards out. We still haven't had a penalty in the league, but we have now had a free-kick in the box. Ashley Williams fancied it, but his effort after a layoff from Wayne Routledge flew clear of the bar.
The next real effort on goal came just on the stroke of half-time. Vorm half-cleared the ball with a punch, but it landed in the path of Roger Espinoza, who volleyed home past a wrong-footed Vorm and a clutch of Swansea defenders at the near post. A great finish, but possible question marks around the defending. 1-0 at half time then, and I won't have been alone in wondering what kind of changes Laudrup would wring at the break. As it turned out, he made none, and it paid off.
The second half started and the Swans started to look more like a team intent on coming back from the North-West with some points in the bag. Some neat passing saw Wayne Routledge pick up the ball, and the winger found Rangel overlapping on the right with a great diagonal pass, taking out Scharner and Espinoza in one fell swoop, but there was still work to be done. Rangel collected the pass at full sprint before hitting an exquisite finish back across goal, which came off the far post before rolling into the net. It seemed the Swans were now very much up for this.
It wasn't quite that straightforward though. It's more than possible that the Swans turned off for a couple of minutes, as almost immediately afterwards Gary Caldwell drifted through the centre of midfield and found James McCarthy with a great pass, and the midfielder drove on before smashing the ball home low to Vorm's right. Again, it seemed the Swans were slow to go to the man in possession, but what happened next makes it hard to look to pick holes in the performance too much. Remember, Spurs needed a last-gasp Gareth Bale stunner to beat these boys, and they've been playing very well of late.
Wigan's earlier confidence had disappeared despite regaining the lead, and Swansea started to control the game more and more. Routledge was excellent all night, and has, for me, rubber stamped his position as first choice winger in the Swansea squad with a number of tireless performances. The Swans continued to press and got their reward when Hernandez snatched up a loose pass and fed Shechter, who held off his man and hit a shot which was deflected and found the corner of the net. The Israeli striker looked as stunned as the travelling Swansea contingent, and there are already people online with biographies stating "I was there when Shechter scored". Harsh? Possibly. Funny? Very.
With the pendulum now swinging firmly in Swansea's favour, there was only ever going to be one winner from here on in, and so it was that in the 75th minute Hernandez clipped over a cross from the left which Wigan should have cleared easily. As it happened, Shaun Maloney and James McArthur contrived to scuff the ball straight into the path of Dwight Tiendalli, who nipped in to flick the ball away from a defensive foot before hitting a finish into the floor which bounced up and into the far corner past a hapless Joel Robles. That goal summed up Wigan's season for me - it doesn't matter how well you play in spells, if you defend like that when you need a win to stay in the league you can have no complaints if you're ultimately relegated.
One more incident of note before the game drew to a close - and sadly on a more sombre note. A sickening clash of heads between Ben Davies and Michel Vorm saw both players down for a considerable length of time. Davies, true to his increasing "hard-man" persona, was up and about fairly quickly however Vorm was stretchered off under extreme caution, strapped to a stretcher and with a neck brace. Thankfully Laudrup has since indicated the injury isn't as serious as first feared and the Dutchman was up and about in the dressing room after the game.
All in all an impressive ninety minutes from the Swans, some slight defensive lapses aside. We do need to get out of the habit of needing to score three goals to win the game, but you feel with summer signings imminent this is something that will be addressed sooner rather than later. What Kyle Bartley has done is anyone's guess, but it seems his time is up at Swansea City after continually missing out when Swansea needed a replacement centre-back, with Garry Monk consistently preferred. It seems a shame as I've been impressed by Bartley at times, and it's possible there's something going on we're not privy to. Who knows eh?
Despite a raft of changes, the Swans deserved the three points last night and it's nice to be able to write a report on a game which saw us win for what seems like the first time in forever. Next up is Man Utd away, where the atmosphere is likely to be clean off it - Manchester United are being presented with the Premier League trophy and Ferguson has just announced he's to call time on his career, so there's going to be an air of electricity in the ground which will most definitely see decisions go in Man Utd's favour. Let's just hope the referee isn't Howard Webb, eh...
