Rotherham United 1-3 Swansea City: Hourihane, Grimes and Fulton give Swans win

Swansea City tightened their grip on second place in the Championship - and closed the gap on leaders Norwich City - with victory at Rotherham United.

Conor Hourihane put the Swans in front with a stylish clipped effort, before Matt Grimes lashed in their second from 20 yards.

Rotherham fought back after the break with substitute Freddie Ladapo heading in from a long throw.

But Swansea withstood a subsequent period of pressure before restoring their two-goal lead as Jay Fulton flicked in just seconds after coming on.

A seventh Championship match unbeaten means the Swans are now two points in front of Brentford in third place.

Steve Cooper's side are also now only four points behind Norwich, who missed an opportunity to stretch their lead at the top of the table following their goalless draw at home to Middlesbrough in Saturday's early kick-off.

Rotherham, meanwhile, remain in the relegation zone, three points from safety after a first defeat in four matches.

Promotion test

The Millers' recent good form - impressive 3-0 winners at Middlesbrough on Wednesday - made this a trickier fixture for Swansea than the table may have suggested.

And with Rotherham's wing-backs system a good match for Swansea's 3-5-2 formation, a tight start to the match suggested this could be a stern examination of the Swans' promotion credentials.

But despite the hosts' early efforts to crowd the midfield and launch searching long balls into their penalty area, Cooper's side gradually took control once they were able to keep possession and stretch the game.

Wing-backs Jake Bidwell and Connor Roberts grew more influential over the course of the first half, and a move involving the latter led to the opening goal.

Roberts crossed to Andre Ayew who headed wide but, with Rotherham unable to clear, Yan Dhanda laid the ball off to Hourihane, who leant back slightly and elegantly struck across the ball with the outside of his left foot, guiding it into the bottom corner.

Swansea's second goal was another fine left-footed strike, fellow midfielder Grimes seizing on Jamal Blackman's clearance from a corner and blasting in a low, first-time effort before the Rotherham goalkeeper could get back into position.

To their credit, the home side responded well to falling 2-0 behind and Matt Crooks came close to halving their deficit when he fired narrowly over shortly before half-time.

Paul Warne's side went direct in their search of a goal and, after a series of set-pieces, they got one when Swansea failed to deal with Wes Harding's long throw into the box and Ladapo headed in.

Harding's throws continued to make life difficult for the visitors but the Swans soon had their two-goal lead back when substitute Fulton - seemingly introduced to bring some defensive steel to the midfield - applied a sweet first-time finish to a slick team move.

Rotherham were still not completely out of contention and Clark Robertson headed against the crossbar after Swansea goalkeeper Freddie Woodman failed to catch a cross.

But despite the hosts' late efforts, the Swans were ultimately comfortable winners and appear to be in excellent form ahead of next Friday's top-of-the-table encounter with Norwich.

Swansea head coach Steve Cooper:

"It was really pleasing. To score three goals away from home and get three points is always a good return.

"We scored three brilliant goals, three class finishes from midfield players from the end of good moves, how we want to play the game.

"We're disappointed how we conceded because we try to pride ourselves on first and second balls coming into the box, but fair play to the lads, they calmed down, showed composure and got the two-goal advantage again."

Rotherham manager Paul Warne:

"We weren't overly disappointed with our performance. I didn't think there was much in it.

"If ever we needed a crowd in it was today. The game was pretty close but we didn't have enough of an injection of pace or win enough second balls.

"It was just two little bits of quality [for Swansea's first two goals] and sometimes you just have to hold your hands up. I thought our lads gave a good account of themselves second half."