Swansea vs QPR match report: Ki Sung-yeung unlocks toothless Rangers as Swans make hard work of easy victory

Swansea 2 Queens Park Rangers 0

Matt Lloyd
Tuesday 02 December 2014 22:54 GMT
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Swansea proved good things come to those who wait after passing Queen’s Park Rangers into submission at the Liberty Stadium tonight.

Ki Sung-yueng ended a frustrating evening for an utterly dominant Swansea with a deserved breakthrough 12 minutes from time before Wayne Routledge plundered a late second.

QPR had goalkeeper Robert Green to thank for making a fist of this lop-sided match that left a concerned Harry Redknapp still at a loss to get an away point in the Premier League.

Both teams showed early ambition in a lively opening despite having won just one of their previous four games. Leon Britton made his first start of the season following a knee injury but his slip forced Ki to concede a free-kick in the opening minute that Niko Kranjcar fired wide.

Given Rangers’ struggles to find the back of the net on the road, having scored just twice in six away games, set-pieces appeared to be their most likely opening. Leroy Fer should have made more with a half-chance from Joey Barton’s free-kick and came perilously close to breaking the deadlock against the run of play before half-time but headed straight at Lukasz Fabianski.

Amidst those scraps, Swansea dominated, as has become customary at the Liberty Stadium, however Green was in fine form to deny the hosts an early lead.

He rushed from his line to snuff out Routledge, deftly played through by Wilfried Bony, and then pushed Kyle Bartley’s header wide from Gylfi Sigurdsson’s corner.

It was a far less convincing strike of the ball by Sigurdsson that almost out-foxed Green, deflecting off Barton’s heel and squirming under the keeper’s arms, but just wide of the post.

Green was at full stretch moments later to impressively prevent the Icelander’s free-kick, round the blind-side of the wall, going in.

At times it must have felt like a training session for Swansea as they knocked the ball around seemingly at will yet with Bony often the only outlet up front, they failed to transcribe their embarrassing amount of possession into a final product.

Too often than not, Bony was crowded out by Steven Caulker or the excellent Richard Dunne, who used all his experience to be in the right place at the right time.

Some of the football from Swansea was exquisite. It was never better than when Britton played through Routledge who sped forward before squaring to Bony only for the striker to fire straight at Green. Frustration festered within the Liberty and Neil Taylor and Britton were booked as QPR grew in belief of digging out a point.

But with 12 minutes remaining, Bony had support, feeding Ki on the corner of the box. The South Korean stood up Nedum Onuoha before unleashing a left-foot shot that went in off the far past.

Having finally found a way past Green, Swansea swiftly grabbed a second when Nathan Dyer teed up Routledge to secure the win that sends Swansea sixth.

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