Swansea resurgent and Cardiff stay top: Welsh football weekend round-up
Vitor Matos oversaw a first win as Swansea City manager, beating Oxford United 2-0, on a good weekend for the Welsh sides in the EFL.
Cardiff won to continue their run at the top of League One, while Wrexham were pipped by a late Preston North End equaliser, but their unbeaten run stretched to nine games in the Championship.
The only sour note was Newport County’s 3-0 defeat to Boreham Wood in the FA Cup second round.
Tymon screamer sets up first Swansea win for Matos
Swansea halted their five-match losing streak with a competent 2-0 victory over Oxford United, with left back Josh Tymon at the thick of the action.
New boss Vitor Matos hailed Josh Tymon’s “brilliant” goal after Swansea City finally enjoyed set-piece success in their much-needed win over Oxford United.
Swansea were the only Championship team not to have scored a set-piece goal in the league this season before the U’s came to Wales on Saturday.
But Swansea wiped out the unwanted record when Marko Stamenic headed them in front from Tymon’s free-kick late in the first half.
They swiftly scored a memorable second goal when Eom Jisung’s free-kick was only cleared as far as Tymon, who volleyed spectacularly into the top corner from 20 yards.
“It was brilliant – I just hope he can do it again!” said a smiling Matos.
“But yeah, brilliant goal. I think the goal is massive, but his performance was as well. He defended really good, stopped crosses, which is something massive especially in the Championship.
“He balanced the team, he supported the attack, he found ways to go to the last third as well, so I think that Tymo did a really good game and I’m really pleased.
“The goal was a really good goal, but it was the pinnacle of the performance, if you want to say.”
Wrexham rue late Preston equaliser
Kieffer Moore continued his excellent goal-scoring season, netting his 10th goal of the campaign as Wrexham drew 1-1 with Preston.
The striker tapped into the net in the fourth minute to give the visitors the lead at Deepdale – only for Harrison Armstrong to bag his first goal for North End to salvage a point for Paul Heckingbottom’s side.
“Without a doubt, 10 goals from open play before Christmas is a great return,” said Parkinson.
“He’s a real handful but he’s got a lot to his game.
“I think all of our supporters have seen that in terms of his hold-up play, his ability to stretch the pitch as well and it’s great for him to get a goal.”
Wrexham sit 12th in the Championship, seven points above Swansea and just three points off the play-off places.
Cardiff stay top after thrilling Huddersfield clash
Yousef Salech’s brace saw Cardiff continue their run at the top of League One, scoring two headers as Huddersfield were beaten 3-2 at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Those two strikes see Salech move to nine league goals for the season, now the top scorer in the division. With a trip to third-place Stevenage coming up tomorrow evening, Cardiff and Brian Barry-Murphy will be keen to see his striker continue his excellent form.
“I think he just has to concentrate on trying to improve all aspects of his game,” said Barry-Murphy.
“You’ve seen how dangerous he is, but obviously he’s still a very young striker. He’ll be learning a lot from Callum Robinson and how to improve the aspects of his game that Callum is really good at and he’s not, and vice versa.
“So he’s got a lot of improvement to go and he’s a really good lad, and as long as he has the mentality to improve he’ll be fine.”
Newport crash out of the Cup
Boreham Wood pulled off a minor Cup upset on the weekend, beating a sorry Newport 3-0 in the FA Cup second round on the weekend.
If the size of the task facing new manager Christian Fuchs was not clear before, it is crystal now.
Former FA Cup winner Fuchs – who lifted the trophy with Leicester City in 2021 – said his side needed to be braver in possession after losing the chance of a big tie in the third-round draw.
“I can accept defeat, no problem, but after 20 minutes, we were too passive,” he said.
“We were giving up a little bit on ourselves which I didn’t like to see. We just tried to play it safe. That’s not how you build momentum, that’s not how you get yourself out of it.
“You also need to be a bit brave with the ball, it was just too passive overall.”
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