Swansea City 2-0 Cardiff City: Cooper and Obafemi seal Swans' third straight derby win
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Ollie Cooper celebrates after scoring his third goal in four games
Swansea City rewrote the south Wales derby record books once more with a 2-0 win over 10-man Cardiff City.
Having claimed the maiden league double in the fixture's history last season, Russell Martin's side became the first to win three successive league derbies since the clubs' first meeting in 1912.
Goals from Ollie Cooper and Michael Obafemi sealed their latest victory.
Cardiff's hopes of restoring some derby pride were undermined by Callum Robinson's foolish red card.
The forward's dismissal, for throwing the ball at Ben Cabango's face, left Cardiff a man light for 83 minutes - and Swansea pressed home their advantage as they triumphed with something to spare.
It was another painful derby day for Cardiff, whose dreadful recent record in the game that matters most to supporters of both clubs continued.
The fact that Cooper was rejected on numerous occasions as a youngster by Cardiff, for whom his father Kevin used to play, only added to the visitors' misery.
Swansea's seventh victory in nine Championship games lifted them to fourth - the highest position of the Martin era - while Mark Hudson's Cardiff stay 20th after a third successive defeat.
Martin's men have the most league wins in this fixture - it is now 26 compared to 20 - yet it is Cardiff who have managed the most successes when cup competitions are taken into account, with 47 compared to 40.
But in recent years, Swansea have had the upper hand, with six victories - and 15 goals compared to one conceded - in the past eight encounters with their biggest rivals.
Cardiff looked hungry to change the record as they pressed high and troubled Swansea in the opening exchanges - only for Robinson's rash moment to change the mood of the game.
Having been penalised for a foul on Matt Grimes, Robinson was nudged by Cabango and responded by hurling the ball at the Swansea defender.
The red card which followed prompted Cardiff to sit back, allowing Swansea to take control of the contest.
The hosts ought to have gone ahead when a flowing passing move saw Luke Cundle find Obafemi, who skipped beyond Curtis Nelson only to pull is shot wide.
Cardiff were restricted to the occasional counter-attack, though it was Swansea's Steven Benda who made the first save of the game as he clawed out Tom Sang's 20-yard volley.
The Bluebirds then got lucky, as Cedric Kipre escaped sanction for pushing Matty Sorinola's cross clear with his left fist.
Denied what undoubtedly should have been a penalty, Swansea flooded forward once more as Grimes crossed and Niels Nkounkou could only clear as far as Cundle.
Callum Robinson was sent off for throwing the ball at Ben Cabango's head
He failed to get a shot away as he miscontrolled, but Cooper met the loose ball with the most precise of finishes, a curling effort which went in off the underside of the bar.
This was quite a moment for the Swansea academy product, who was picked up by Swansea after a succession of unsuccessful trials at Cardiff, the club where his dad Kevin used to play in midfield.
There might have been further misery for Cardiff before the break, but Obafemi could not get enough on Jay Fulton's centre and Cooper did not connect properly with Joel Latibeaudiere's inviting cross.
Swansea threatened first in the second half, too, as Obafemi turned sharply on the edge of the area and forced a diving save from Allsop.
Half-time substitute Mark Harris then had a rare sight of the home goal, heading over from Callum O'Dowda's cross, before Swansea conjured the killer second goal.
There appeared little danger as Fulton fed the excellent Grimes in midfield, but his perfect pass sliced through Cardiff's defence and Obafemi skated in to steer home his third goal in just two appearances in this fixture.
With that Cardiff looked beaten, and the scoreline might have got ugly as Allsop pushed over Cabango's drive and Obafemi shot across the face.
For Swansea, the misses did not matter.
Once again, it was their party which upset the neighbours.
Swansea head coach Russell Martin:
"It's a really enjoyable day. We were helped obviously with the early red card. It was something we spoke to our players about, having so many young ones in the team, to not get involved in any of that.
"Thankfully for us one of their players did - it's a really easy mistake to make when the atmosphere is like this, in such a big game.
"Then it was about sticking to our game-plan more than ever. We created a lot - we should score more goals in the first bit. It took a bit of time to score the first one and then it was about sticking to the plan again.
"We got a bit excited and in a rush to get the second which didn't help us. It gave Cardiff a chance to try to turn themselves into heroes.
"Thankfully we managed to get the game back under control and I really liked the last half hour. I am really proud. I loved the atmosphere and the connection between the crowd and the players."
Cardiff interim manager Mark Hudson:
"We prepared as well as we could after a tough Wednesday night against 11 men with 10. We came into the game full of fight, full of togetherness with a plan. We started well and then after seven minutes the game changed and it becomes difficult.
"But the players showed fight, determination, and togetherness. It could have been easy to think the whole world was against them but they stuck in and fought for each other.
"I'd say no [complaints about the red card]. It's about having controlled aggression in moments during a game.
"He (Robinson) has been brilliant since he's come into the football club, he's brilliant with the players, and he's been brilliant in the build-up towards it.
"It's something to learn from and I can only focus on the players who were on from seven onwards. They stuck in, fought for the club, fought for the badge and fought for each other, which is all you can ask."