by Adam Evans
Date: Sunday 17thFebruary, 2019
Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Attendance: 11,261
SWANSEA City booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Emirates FA Cup for the second season on the bounce after coming from behind to beat Brentford 4-1.
The first half looked like it was going to be a day to forget for the home side after Ollie Watkins opened the scoring for the visitors.
Swansea equalised immediately after the restart when Bersant Celina’s free-kick hit the post and went into the net off goalkeeper Luke Daniels. An outstanding solo goal from Daniel James followed, then just after the hour mark Ezri Konsa was sent off for a professional foul – and that was the turning point in the match.
The Swans sealed the victory and booked their place in the quarter-finals with a goal from Celina and a stoppage time effort from George Byers.
To use a well-worn football cliche, it really was a game of two halves.
Swansea came very close to opening the scoring in the fourth minute. A short pass by Daniel James allowed George Byers to get a shot away, but his effort curled wide of the post.
Brentford created a series of opportunities in the first half; their best chance coming from a drilled cross from Sergi Canos in the Swansea area, which forced Kristoffer Nordfeldt to push it away to safety.
The pressure from the visitors eventually paid off in the 28th minute. A fast counter attack put Ollie Watkins through on goal and he calmly fired home.
Watkins nearly grabbed a brace on the brink of half-time, but his low effort went narrowly wide.
Graham Potter’s words at half-time definitely made a difference as the Swans equalised in the 48th minute. James was bought down by Ezri Konsa, which allowed Bersant Celina to step up, his free-kick hit the post and then bounced into the net off the Brentford keeper.
Just two minutes after drawing level, Swansea broke quickly through James on the counter, who headed off on a superb solo run and he remained cool to bury his shot past the keeper.
The home side had an additional man advantage after Konsa was shown a straight red card – the defender was the last man back for the Bees and took out James who looked to be through on goal.
Celina added the Swans’ third in the 68th minute. The Kosovan evaded some weak challenges from the Brentford defence which gave him time and space to curl his effort past Daniels.
The home fans were celebrating a fourth straight after, however, it was disallowed after Connor Roberts tapped Celina’s rebounded effort in from an offside position.
George Byers did eventually put the icing on the cake to make it four and book his side’s place in the FA Cup quarter-final.
Brentford’s usually prolific goal scorer, Neil Maupay had a chance to grab a consolation in the closing stages, but he somehow put his effort over the bar without a white shirt in sight.
Swansea manager Potter was delighted with the performance of Daniel James and highlighted his pace on the ball.
“His ability to sprint repeatedly was as a high level you are ever going to see. He’s got a lot to work on still, but he had an end product today. I thought today he was sensational.”
Swansea will see who they are coming up against in the quarter-finals tomorrow (Monday). The Swans are ball number 6 in the draw.
Swansea City: Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Connor Roberts (Cian Harries, 90′), Mike van der Hoorn (C), Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kyle Naughton, Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes; Daniel James (Joel Asoro, 90′), George Byers, Bersant Celina, Oli McBurnie (Courtney Baker-Richardson, 76′).
Brentford: Luke Daniels, Moses Odubajo, Sergi Canos (Josh Dasilva, 69′), Neal Maupay, Ollie Watkins, Kamo Mokotjo (Josh McEachran, 78′), Romaine Sawyers (C), Said Benrahma (Nikolaj Kirk, 69′), Julian Jeanvier, Ezri Konsa, Yoann Barbet.