Swansea 1-1 Sunderland: Ki header saves a point for The Swans

A Ki sun Yeung header cancelled out a Jermain Defoe opener and saved a point for Swansea City in their 1-1 draw with Sunderland.

Swansea started the game brightest with Bafetimbi Gomis having two good chances and Ki Sun Yeung had a goal ruled out, before Defoe gave the away side the lead against the run of play. There was shouts for a Sunderland penalty after Ricardo Alvarez was clipped but that was waved away then it was Ki who equalised midway through the half to secure the point.

There were celebrations for Swansea manager Gary Monk before the match as this clash marked the first anniversary of his first match in charge of the Welsh club and was looking to build upon an important 1-0 win over Southampton last week. Sunderland were also looking to build upon some form with a win over Burnley in the league and a victory midweek in the FA Cup replay over Fulham.

The first real opportunity of the match didn’t come until the 27th minute after good play from Swansea saw the ball fall to Gomis but Costel Pantilimon did well to spread himself to prevent the shot. The French striker then had another opportunity seven minutes later when Barrow played a good ball across the area, he got a touch to it but it wasn’t enough to steer it into the net.

Five minutes before the half-time whistle Swansea had the ball in the net when Ki Sun Yeung put Jon Jo Shelvey’s free kick into the net but the flag was up on the far side for offside. Swansea would live to regret their missed opportunities a minute later when from nothing Sunderland took the lead, new signing Defoe ran at the defence who backed off striker he then made room for himself before smashing it into the far corner.

There were penalty shouts early in the second period when Alvarez went over in the area and at second viewing it looked like Swansea skipper Ashley Williams had clipped him on the shin but Phil Dowd waved the play on.

Swansea got their equaliser in the 66th minute, Kyle Naughton whipped a great ball into the area and it was former Sunderland loanee Ki who was alive to the situation to dive in and head his side level.

The final opportunity of the match fell to substitute Fabio Oliveira who did well to get a shot off despite the difficult angle but Pantilimon did well enough to palm it wide.

It wasn’t a necessarily a happy anniversary for Monk as he will feel his side could have had much more from tis game especially considering the amount of chances that they had in the first period but he will be happy with a point. Gus Poyet will be the happier of the two managers with his team taking the lead from absolutely nothing, they stayed solid despite conceding and well deserving of their point.