Wilfried Bony's late strike handed Swansea City a first league win since October, the Welsh outfit beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0 on Saturday afternoon.

It had been a hard slog between Paul Clement and Alan Pardew's two teams, a new manager coming up against one coming under increasing pressure.

In the end, pressure was relieved on Clement thanks to Bony's 81st minute strike, Pardew left still searching for a first win as Baggies boss.

Low-key game, big result

Although West Brom dominated the opening changes with an 80% possession stat not associated with the Baggies particularly often, chances were hard to come by.

Fans were made to wait until after the 20 minute mark for the first shot on target of the game, Jay Rodriguez forcing Lukasz Fabianski into a save after getting on the end of Kieran Gibbs' pass.

With two teams low on confidence, tentative play was to be expected, Swansea doing little to encourage belief from home fans increasingly worried about the prospect of relegation.

Tom Carroll looked to inspire, his shot coming back off the crossbar and into the path of Wayne Routledge to cross, Alfie Mawson's header flying over the woodwork.

At the other end, Salomon Rondon was feeding off scraps, a blocked shot here and there all that the Venezuelan had to shout about.

It wasn't to be Rondon's day, with fortunes falling to Bony, his winner less than 10 minutes from time sparking pandemonium around the Liberty, moving Swansea off the bottom - for the time being.

Nathan Dyer's header on goal was well saved by Ben Foster but the English 'keeper could only push the ball into the path of the oncoming Bony, the striker making no mistake in sweeping home for his second goal in as many games, this one a winner.

Two teams set to swap places?

Some tough fixtures follow for Swansea with Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool set to face them in the coming weeks. The home fixture to Crystal Palace on December 23 is likely one they'll pinpoint as another must-win.

West Brom have Liverpool next before they host Manchester United on the 17th, with fans worried as Saturday's result leaves them outside of the relegation zone on goal difference alone.

 

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