Thomas-Asante stunner helps Coventry beat Swansea

Coventry had not beaten Swansea in the two clubs' previous 18 meetings, a run stretching back to 1981

Brandon Thomas-Asante scored an outstanding long-range goal as Coventry City eased to victory over struggling Swansea City.

Ellis Simms' hooked finish gave Coventry an early lead as Swansea struggled to adapt to life after Matt Grimes, their captain and midfield fulcrum who signed for the Sky Blues on Friday.

Thomas-Asante's moment of brilliance doubled the lead before half-time, the striker punishing a Swansea error in midfield with a glorious first-time shot from around 40 yards which dipped just under the crossbar and into the net.

Victory continues Coventry's upturn under former Swan Frank Lampard, with the Sky Blues now within sight of the play-off places after four successive Championship wins.

For Swansea, by contrast, these are worrying times.

Luke Williams' beleaguered side have now taken only one point from six league games in 2025.

That dreadful run has seen Swansea slide down the table, with Williams' squad in desperate need of reinforcements before Monday's transfer deadline.

Grimes' move to Coventry was not completed in time for him to make his debut against his long-time employers, making this just the fifth Swansea league game in the past seven seasons he was not involved in.

New skipper Ben Cabango led Swansea out, but the absence of Grimes' calming presence in the centre of the pitch was very quickly apparent.

Coventry seized control of what had been a scrappy contest by converting the game's first chance, with Simms controlling Thomas-Asante's driven cross before hooking the ball into the net after Swansea switched off at a throw-in.

There were further Coventry chances, with Bobby Thomas heading over at a set-piece and Thomas-Asante forcing a smart save from Lawrence Vigouroux as he turned Liam Kitching's cross goalwards.

Swansea were less menacing, though Jay Fulton found the net at a corner only for the effort to be chalked off because of Cabango's somewhat unfortunate handball.

Coventry have lost only one of their past eight league games

Ronald's header then drew a first save from Oliver Dovin before Thomas-Asante took centre stage.

When Goncalo Franco's loose touch saw the ball roll into his path, Thomas-Asante had the confidence and quality to deliver one of the Championship's goals of the season, his shot sailing just beyond the reach of the despairing Vigouroux to leave Swansea with a mountain to climb in the second half.

In truth, a comeback never looked likely, with Jack Rudoni twice missing the chance to put the contest to bed as he saw one shot kicked away by Vigouroux and another blocked by Cabango.

Swansea huffed and puffed until the end but, in sharp contrast to their opponents, they are a team in desperate need of a lift.

Swansea City head coach Luke Williams:

"We tried to give us some more bodies in the middle of the pitch. Losing Matty [Grimes], he is tough to replace of course.

"We tried to change things a little bit to see if we can adapt. I think the front two for Coventry really caused us a lot of problems. I think that's the big difference in the two teams. The best side won but we weren't able to cope with them.

"It's very difficult to be the same type of team without Matt Grimes, for the moment. We need to try to find a way to control the game again.

"We made some good openings with Florian [Bianchini] and Ronald trying to get behind the lines, but when we go there we didn't make enough of those openings."

Coventry City head coach Frank Lampard:

"It was a very complete performance, other than another few goals to make it even more comfortable because a game is never done at 2-0.

"Everything about the performance on and off the ball was good.

"We are on a good run but I'm not getting too carried away because I know things can flip very quickly in football and we have to play the best team in the league on Wednesday (Leeds United).

"They were two really good goals and the second one was fantastic.

"It was an instinctive goal and probably nobody else in the stadium thought he would take it on. But he took it on and the quality of his technique and execution made it a very special goal. He deserves to have a big smile on his face after that."