Championship

Swansea City 0 – Barnsley 0

Swansea City missed a host of decent chances as they had to settle for a goalless draw against struggling Barnsley at the Liberty Stadium.

Steve Cooper must have felt very frustrated with his teams finishing or lack of it on an afternoon they dropped precious league points. Sam Surridge and Andre Ayew failed to score, and this was a match they would have targeted to win.

The Swans dropped from eighth to ninth in the table and Barnsley moved up one place to third from bottom.

After an uneventful opening 25 minutes it was the visitors who thought they had opened the scoring, as the ball entered the box Conor Chaplin calmly tucked the ball in the net in a crowded area, but his effort was ruled out for offside. Let off for the Steve Cooper’s Swans.

Minutes earlier and Chaplin struck a direct free kick from outside the box straight into the Swans’ wall.

Bersant Celina drew a good save from Samuel Radlinger’s feet after Andre Ayew set-up the midfielder who should have done better, then Sam Surridge had a shot blocked by the keeper in the six-yard box. The Swans were knocking on the door for the opener.

Radlinger cleared with his head outside the box and Surridge struck from distance as the ball crashed against the crossbar, the keeper was extremely fortunate to get away with that. Jake Bidwell fired high and wide a direct free kick after Tom Carroll was fouled.

Swansea City would have felt disappointed not to lead at half time as they created some decent chances, but some woeful finishing cost them.

After the break Matt Grimes’ in-swinging free kick from right-hand touchline was gathered by Radlinger under pressure.

Barnsley should have taken the lead in the 52nd when Jacob Brown slid in at the far post and hit the woodwork.

Grimes’ dangerous corner was met by Ayew who saw his firm header somehow cleared off the line and Celina skied the rebound. Really should have scored! Surridge ran clear and buried his shot in the far corner, but it was rightly flagged for offside. The Swans’ hard-working striker has been unlucky in front of goal.

On the hour mark the visitors made a double substitution Mike Bahre replaced skipper Alex Mowatt and Patrick Schmidt came on for Jacob Brown, giving them some fresh legs.

Schmidt nearly made an immediate impact as he ran clear and slotted past Freddie Woodman, the substitute was offside. Woodman pulled off a superb diving save to his right to deny Mads Anderson scoring with a far post header

On 70 minutes George Byers came on for the industrious Tom Carroll who had earlier picked up a yellow card. George Byers struck a low edge of the area shot just wide.

On 77 minutes on came Wayne Routledge for the luckless Surridge to try and snatch victory, but it never came to fruition.

Swansea City: Freddie Woodman, Kyle Naughton, Ben Wilmot, Ben Cabango, Jake Bidwell; Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (captain), Tom Carroll, (70 George Byers) Andre Ayew, Sam Surridge (77 Wayne Routledge), Bersant Celina.

Substitutes not used: Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Connor Roberts, Declan John, Barrie McKay, Borja Baston.

Barnsley: Samuel Radlinger, Jordan Williams, Bambo Diaby, Mads Andersen, Jacob Brown (60 Patrick Schmidt), Cauley Woodrow, Conor Chaplin, Luke Thomas, Clarke Odour, Aapo Halme, Alex Mowatt (captain) (60 Mike Bahre).

Substitutes not used: Callum Styles, Kenny Dougall, Toby Sibbick, Elliot Simoes, Brad Collins.