Everton vs Swansea City match report: Andre Ayew strike gives Francesco Guidolin first Swans win

Everton 1 Swansea City 2

Swansea City players celebrate the 2-1 win at Everton (Getty)

Ever since they appointed the 33-year-old Roberto Martinez, Swansea’s choice of manager has been impeccable. This time, however, you were not so sure.

Swansea’s chairman, Huw Jenkins, had abandoned Garry Monk the first time he had run into difficulties as either a player or a manager. The choice of Francesco Guidolin put Swansea’s survival in the hands of a man who had never player or managed in Britain before. By turns, their reasoning seemed cruel and reckless.

Given that his first match ended with Swansea’s first victory at Goodison Park in their history, this might just be another inspired choice.

When the final whistle sounded, seconds after Seamus Coleman had volleyed into the Gwladys End from a couple of yards out, Guidolin and his entire backroom staff hugged each other with the fervour of Jürgen Klopp’s mass embrace of his Liverpool team after Saturday’s astonishing victory at Norwich.

Andre Ayez is congratulated after scoring the Swans' winner (Getty)

Those who had journeyed from south Wales began a chorus of “We are staying up”, although even in their darkest moments this season they seemed too well organised to be real relegation candidates.

Guidolin, who had not coached a highly successful spell at Udinese two years ago, admitted to nerves on the morning of the match. Having watched Monday night’s 1-0 win over Watford from the stands, he spent much of this match crouched on his haunches on the touchline.

“It is strange for me and all very new,” he said. “My son lives in London and I visit him there but this job in Wales is something new. We played well for 60 minutes but at the end we suffered.

Francesco Guidolin on the bench (Getty)

“Six points in two matches is a good way to start and the first impressions I have had of Swansea has been the kindness of people there and the family atmosphere of the club. It is a little bit more relaxed in Wales without the pressures I had in Italy.”

The pressures on Martinez appear to be mounting. Everton have not won in the league at Goodison since November and Martinez admitted his team were developing a psychological problem about playing at home. “Fearful” was how he described the shambolic first half performance.

“We have not found the right way of playing at home, that is the truth,” said Martinez. “We need to free ourselves at Goodison.”

Here, he lost Muhamed Besic and Kevin Mirallas to hamstring and tendon injuries that will keep them out of Wednesday’s League Cup semi-final at Manchester City. Coleman’s miss, he said, would be his “snapshot of the game” to go with John Terry’s offside stoppage-time goal that denied Everton at Stamford Bridge.

There would be other images to take away, not least Ashley Williams’s handball in the build up to Swansea’s winner that saw Andre Ayew drive the ball home via the tip of John Stones’s boot. There were fierce appeals for a penalty when Coleman’s cross struck Neil Taylor on the forearm, although Martinez seemed less angered by that.

Stones had a sketchy game and his loose back-pass led to Swansea’s opener. Tim Howard raced to clear but his kick struck Ayew’s boot to concede the penalty. Much as Howard steeled himself to make amends, Gylfi Sigurdsson’s spot-kick was unstoppable.

Although Besic had struck the foot of Lukasz Fabianski’s post in the opening exchanges, Martinez remained unhappy with Everton’s performance before the interval, which he called “slow and pedestrian”.

There was nothing pedestrian about the equaliser, Gareth Barry meeting a corner from Gerard Deulofeu with a back-flick from the outside of his boot that was clipped in via Jack Cork’s boot and the inside of the post.

It should have settled Everton and allowed them to assert their superiority. The second half was played almost exclusively in Swansea’s half but cross after cross from Deulofeu eluded its target and fRomelu Lukaku’s touch was fractionally off.

Man for man, Everton have a better first team than Liverpool but they never quite seem to believe in themselves. Unless Martinez can change this attitude on Wednesday night, the road to Wembley will be closed to them.