Ashley Williams lifted Swansea City from the relegation zone with his game winning header against Watford on Monday night at the Liberty Stadium. The Swans held on to to their 1-0 lead for the majority of the game, in what was a physical matchup, to earn their first victory in 2016.

A turgid start, Williams brings the game to life

In front of 20,430 and Swansea’s new head coach Francesco Guidolin, the Jacks started the game on the attack. The club from Wales created seven of their 10 shots in the first 45 minutes of the game. However, it took Swansea 25 minutes to register their first shot on target. Ghanaian international striker Andre Ayew forced the Hornets' 'keeper Heurelho Gomes to make his only save of the match.

A couple of minutes later, Swansea captain Williams broke the deadlock with a header to the right hand corner. South Korean international midfielder Ki Sung-Yeung recovered the loose ball on the right hand side of the field, right next to the by-line.

Watford had men in good positions but the 26-year-old midfielder was not fazed as he controlled the ball and delivered a curling pass right into the centre of the penalty box. Then the Welsh international soared in the air and redirected the ball into the net to give Swansea the 1-0 lead.

Lack of goal-mouth action

Liberty Stadium was alive and Swansea appeared to have the momentum, but the Welsh club failed to get another shot on target for the remainder of the match. As for the Hornets they crawled into halftime with just four shots, only recording one on target and also picking two yellow cards in the process.

However, Watford midfielder Jose Jurado nearly tied the match at the 45th minute when he took the Hornets first shot on target. But Swansea stopper Lukasz Fabianski prevented Watford from tying the game.

Watford on top early in the second half

In the second half Swansea went back into their shell and Watford went on the attack. The Golden Boys produced nine of their 13 shots in the final 45 minutes. Their relentless effort nearly broke down the stingy Swansea defence a few times. However, Williams was fortunate that the referee Michael Oliver missed his bear hug on a Troy Deeney in the heart of the penalty box.

Regardless of the missed call the Hornets kept on pushing the Jacks. The visitors' only down fall was their accuracy, in total only two of their 13 shots were on target. Both of those chances were from Jurado and Fabianski was there to stop them.

Both clubs struggled to create any momentum in the match. The main reason for that problem was due to the physicality of the game. The two clubs combined for 44 tackles, 19 fouls and four yellow cards. The pace of the match was stop and go, in result both offenses struggled to create dangerous chances.

Williams scores the all-important goal. (Image credit: Reuters)
Williams scores the all-important goal. (Image credit: Reuters)

Late chances for both sides

However, in the 87th minute Jurado nearly punished the Jacks defense failure to clear the ball out of the box.

Jack defender Neil Taylor failed to head the ball out of the danger area. Instead the ball flew right into the path of the Spanish native. He was just outside the penalty box when the ball dropped in his path, plus he was surrounded by three defenders.

He wasted no time and fired a shot that seemed destined to enter the net. However, the ball just rolled past the right hand post and Swansea breathed a sigh of relief.

In the dying moments of the game the Jacks almost doubled their lead but the post kept Bafetimbi Gomis of the scoring sheet. The French native made a run into the box when he received a through ball. He was quickly confronted by two defenders and his run to the goal seemed over.

However, in a split second he changed directions and went to his left. He eluded the two defenders and nearly lost his balance in the process. His sudden decision set him up for a shot as he was now located in the penalty spot. Gomis quickly blasted a curling shot, since now three defenders were closing down his angle.

His powerful shot was heading to the left hand corner of the net. The Liberty Stadium was ready to explode again, but at the last second his shot hit the post and the score remained 1-0.

Where does the result leave the two sides?

The Jacks were able to hold on and secure the three points that elevated them from 18th to 17th place with 22 points. Plus they ended Alan Cutris’s run as an interim coach with a victory. However, the Swans are still not safe since Newcastle United (18th) are right behind them with 21 points, and only four points separate Sunderland (19th) and Swansea.

That being said if the Jacks can find a way to get a victory against Everton on Saturday at Goodison Park then they will begin to separate themselves from the relegation zone.        

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Jorge Belon
My name is Jorge Belon. I’m a writer for VAVEL USA and VAVEL UK. My focus is on soccer. Throughout the years I have created different blogs all revolving around soccer. My first was Mr. JB Soccer in 2012. Now I currently operate Belon Soccer News (BSN), where I cover soccer mostly from North America and international tournaments. I am a college at Los Angeles Valley College. I was a part of the college newspaper, The Valley Star for two years. At the Star I held the position of Sports Editor, News Editor, Managing Editor and Editor in Chief. I have been writing about soccer for the past three years. I have covered: Major League Soccer, Gold Cup, Under-20 Men’s World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Men’s World Cup and many more.