Swansea City have won only twice in 22 away league games against Sheffield United, failing to keep a single clean sheet
Sheffield United maintained their unbeaten start to the Championship season with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Swansea City at Bramall Lane.
The Blades took a somewhat undeserved lead on the stroke of half-time as Josh Tymon volleyed into his own goal moments after Myles Peart-Harris wasted a glorious chance to put Swansea ahead.
The home side significantly improved after the restart and had chances to extend their lead - with Andre Brooks, Kieffer Moore and Tyrese Campbell coming close to netting.
Nevertheless, the slender victory was enough to lift Chris Wilder's outfit up to third and ensure they preserved their status as the only side in the Championship without a defeat to their name this season.
Swansea dropped to 12th after seeing their three-game unbeaten run come to an end.
- Published1 October
- Published2 October
- Published2 October
Following Saturday's stalemate with Portsmouth, Wilder made three changes to his starting 11 as Jamie Shackleton, Campbell and Brooks replaced Alfie Gilchrist, Moore and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi.
Swans boss Luke Williams also made three alterations from his side's 1-1 draw with Bristol City. Brentford loanee Peart-Harris was handed his first start while Jay Fulton and Josh Key were also recalled - with Zan Vipotnik, Gonçalo Franco and Kyle Naughton dropping to the bench.
The first opportunity fell to the hosts as striker Campbell - who held talks with Swansea in the summer before opting to join the Blades - forced Lawrence Vigouroux into a decent save with a drilled effort from the edge of the 18-yard box.
Swansea's ability to retain possession combined with moments of sloppiness from the Blades ensured the home fans were somewhat irritated at times in the first-half.
They were relieved to see Ronald's deflected effort sail wide, although, in truth, both teams struggled to produce any real quality in the final third.
Wilder's side did go close twice in quick succession after the half hour mark as Shackleton's deflected strike bobbled wide - with Anel Ahmedhodžić missing the target with a header from the resulting corner.
Peart-Harris was gifted a golden opportunity to open the scoring just before half-time as he was picked out by Ollie Cooper, but, after taking his eye off the ball, the 22-year-old volleyed wide from six yards out.
And two minutes later, the home team went ahead in fortunate fashion as Tymon turned Harrison Burrows' cross into his own net to gift the Blades the lead going into the break.
Having been below par in the first-half, the Blades came agonisingly close to doubling their advantage in the 53rd minute. Tymon was robbed of possession, forcing Vigouroux into a stunning save to deny Brooks, and Campbell was only able to drill into the ground and watch the ball loop on to the crossbar from the rebound.
The hosts were firmly in control by this point as Swansea again had Vigouroux to thank after the goalkeeper kept out another Brooks shot with his legs.
Substitute Moore then rifled against the post as Wilder's side demonstrated their superiority after a blunt first-half showing.
Former Swansea striker Rhian Brewster lashed an effort just wide after intercepting a loose header by Matt Grimes as the hosts continued to look the likelier to net the game's second goal.
Harry Darling came closest to scoring an equaliser for the Swans, although the centre-back headed a Grimes free-kick over the crossbar before Vipotnik missed the target with a header.
It meant Swansea suffered a third league defeat of the campaign - with Sheffield United moving to within two points of leaders Sunderland.
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"You've got to give credit to Swansea, they're a really difficult team to play against and I'm a big fan of their manager.
"It causes us problems, we have to get a lot of things right and be patient.
"We weren't good with the ball first-half. I changed it around at half-time, a few words (were said) and the game as we thought it would work out to be was that (in the end)."
Swansea City head coach Luke Williams told BBC Radio Wales:
"I think they gave it a good go throughout the whole game.
"I'm very proud of their performance tonight. In the first-half I think we were probably the better team.
"We came under a lot of pressure in the second-half, that's a given coming here."
