Swansea City 3-2 Preston North End: Swans edge thriller
- Published
Swansea have gone four games unbeaten under Steve Cooper
Swansea City's impressive start to life under Steve Cooper continued as they came from behind to beat Preston North End 3-2.
Preston led early through Joe Rafferty but Borja levelled just before half-time.
George Byers made it 2-1 to Swansea only for Daniel Johnson to equalise, but Borja's second settled an entertaining game.
The turnaround means Cooper is yet to taste defeat as Swansea's head coach.
The Liberty Stadium has become something of a fortress for Swansea, who have lost only once on their own ground in 2019 in 17 matches - and that was against Manchester City.
Preston have not enjoyed their trips to south west Wales in recent times and have now failed to win in 19 visits since a 2-1 triumph at Vetch Field in 1961.
But they were dominant in the first half, pressing Swansea high and reaping their rewards.
Alex Neil's team were deservedly ahead inside 11 minutes, with Rafferty scoring for the first time since his January move from Rochdale.
The left-back took aim from distance and saw his shot find the corner of Freddie Woodman's net.
Swansea could not get their passing game going, and Preston might have extended their lead had Billy Bodin or Johnson not wasted presentable opportunities and Ben Davies headed just over.
Swansea levelled when Borja guided the ball low beyond Declan Rudd and into the net from Connor Roberts' centre.
Swansea were much-improved and after good work from Bersant Celina, Borja fluffed an effort at goal and substitute George Byers was on hand to sweep the ball home.
The lead lasted only four minutes with Johnson levelling from the penalty spot after Roberts bundled Maguire over in the box.
Yet just two minutes later, Swansea were ahead for a second time as Borja powered home a header from Jake Bidwell's centre.
Borja's third goal of the season means Cooper's team have won their three home games this season despite falling behind in all of them.
Swansea are fourth in the Championship while Preston slip to 16th.
Swansea head coach Steve Cooper told BBC Sport Wales: "It was a good win, and we have to be happy with the three points, but we made tough work of it, there is no doubt about that.
"First half, and the players know this, we were not at the level we strive to be at.
"We did not rant and rave at half-time - those days are gone - we talked about how we could improve and we did.
"Borja has got a knack of getting in the right spot to score goals. We saw parts of Borja at his best today, and that is being in the box scoring goals. Let's hope it continues."
Preston manager Alex Neil: "I don't think there's any question we should have been further in front at the end of the first half.
"We had three or four golden opportunities that we didn't take, but at this level you are never going to dominate away from home for 90 minutes.
"The simple fact is that football is about having resilience and coming up against setbacks.
"We shouldn't have been level at half-time but we were, at the end of the day we gave the ball away and got punished. We have to look at the positives but realise the contributed to the negatives as well and we have to deal with that."