FA Cup: Swansea put freeze on Sheffield Wednesday in clinical second half

Carlos Carvalhal has made a big impression in a short period of time at Swansea and that pattern continued as the Welsh club racked up a sixth successive home win, at the expense of the team their Portuguese manager parted company with on Christmas Eve, to reach their first FA Cup quarter-final since 1964. Tottenham Hotspur or Rochdale will visit the Liberty Stadium a fortnight on Saturday after second-half goals from Jordan Ayew and Nathan Dyer ended Sheffield Wednesday’s hopes of causing an upset.

Ayew’s goal was his ninth of the season and provided a rare moment of excitement in a fifth-round tie that took a long time to come to life. Wednesday, 17th in the Championship, created the better chances in the first half but Swansea’s class eventually told as the Premier League club attacked with much more belief and ambition after the interval. Ayew, the club’s leading scorer, came off the bench to put Swansea ahead and Dyer, set up by Tammy Abraham, added a late second as Carvalhal’s side moved to within 90 minutes of a trip to Wembley.

AS IT HAPPENED: Swansea beat Sheffield Wednesday in FA Cup replay

With the temperature below freezing before kick-off and the game broadcast live on television, it was no surprise to see so many empty seats inside the stadium for a match that both clubs had hoped to avoid when they met at Hillsborough 10 days earlier. Those that did brave the elements among the home supporters were treated to a free brew, which presumably warmed their hearts much more than the football in a dire first half.

The home team were desperately poor during that period and, although Carvalhal made five changes to the side that started against Brighton on Saturday, the Swansea manager must have expected so much more from his players. With the passing slow and pedestrian, there was no tempo to their play and an alarming lack of creativity further forward.

Wednesday took a while to get going themselves but the visitors grew into the game and looked much more threatening than Swansea when they attacked in the early stages. Lucas João, playing alongside Jordan Rhodes in attack, showed some dexterous footwork and caused Swansea’s three-man central defence problems at times.

Indeed it was Wednesday who came closest to the breakthrough in the first half when Jacob Butterfield unleashed a powerful 22-yard angled drive that was heading for the far corner until Kristoffer Nordfeldt superbly turned the ball away with his right hand. Moments later João tried to pick out Rhodes with a cross that just eluded the striker and forced Nordfeldt into a hurried save. The game was just approaching the half-hour mark at the time and that was the first meaningful action of the night.

Swansea could not get going in the first half. Abraham saw a header deflected over, Sam Clucas tried a spectacular overhead kick that was much further away from the goal than the crowd seemed to realise, and Ki Sung-yueng drilled a low left-footed shot that brushed the sidenetting. That was as good as it got for Swansea in a thoroughly underwhelming opening 45 minutes of football.

Wednesday, in short, ought to have taken plenty of encouragement from their opponents’ flat and uninspiring approach. They could also have taken the lead when João, who was one of the few players on the pitch that seemed capable and prepared to run at defenders, stepped inside Kyle Bartley to curl a left-footed shot that Nordfeldt saved. At the other end Cameron Dawson, the Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper, must have longed for a shot to warm his hands.

Carvalhal was clearly unimpressed and made a double change at the interval that saw Ayew replace the ineffective Wayne Routledge and Martin Olsson come on for Ki. Swansea immediately looked a little sharper and got their reward within 10 minutes of the restart when Tom Carroll thumped a left-footed shot from 25 yards that cannoned off the feet of both posts and ran loose for Ayew to slot home via a slight deflection off Glenn Loovens.

Swansea were now in control of the game and that superiority was reflected with their second goal. Abraham released Dyer in space on the right and the winger steered a low shot through the legs of Dawson.