Jordan Ayew came off the bench to ensure a nervous Swansea City side made it through to the quarter finals of the Emirates FA Cup on Tuesday evening after defeating Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at the Liberty Stadium in their fifth round replay.
The Swans, coming off the back of a heavy 4-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, really struggled to get their game going in the first half and that gave their Championship visitors confidence in the first half but the game remained goalless at the break
The introduction of Ayew at half-time was the spark that the Swans needed as ten minutes into the second half, he finally got the all important opening goal of the game.
Nathan Dyer then wrapped the game up in the 80th minute to seal the win for Carlos Carvalhal's side who will now play either Tottenham Hotspur or Rochdale at home in the quarter-finals.
Sloppy Swans had Nordfeldt to thank in the first half
In truth the first half really was a struggle for both sides but it was the visitors who had the better chances to take the lead as Kristoffer Nordfeldt was forced into making two really good saves.
The first save was the better save as Jacob Butterfield unleashed a fierce strike from the edge of the box which was going into the back of the net but Nordfeldt managed to keep it out of the net with a fantastic diving save.
The second save came moments later when the visitors put together another impressive move but this time the Swedish keeper denied Lucas João from opening the scoring.
Swansea barely threatened the visitors goal in the first half as Ki Sung-yueng had their only real effort of goal from the edge of the box but it went just wide of the goal.
Therefore, at the break, the game was goalless, but the Championship would have taken confidence from how the game had gone, while the hosts knew they had to raise their game in the second half if they wanted to progress.
Ayew came off the bench to open the scoring 10 minutes into the second half
Something had to chance in the second half for the hosts and that is what happened as Carvalhal made the decision to bring on Ayew at half-time and he took all of ten minutes to score the crucial opening goal of the game.
The goal was created by Tom Carroll as he unleashed a great strike from the edge of the box but the ball hit both posts with keeper Cameron Dawson beaten and Ayew was on hand to roll the ball into an empty net from the rebound.
After the opening goal, though, the visitors responded well by pinning the home side back without creating any big chances but some resolute defending from the hosts saw them get through a difficult period which made the home crowd very nervous.
Dyer added a second to see the Swans progress to the quarter-finals
Any nervousness from the home side was ended 10 minutes from time though when a well-constructed move ended with Tammy Abraham playing a great pass through to Dyer, who put the ball under Dawson's legs to seal the win for the home side.
The win means that the Swans will go on to the quarter-finals, while the visitors now have to put all their focus on making sure they survive in the Championship at the end of the season.