Leroy Fer squanders golden chance as Swansea and Bournemouth fail to break deadlock in Wales

Swansea City 0 AFC Bournemouth 0: The Swans remain in the bottom three with the draw

Neither team could nick the three points (Getty)

Paul Clement has schooled some of the most illustrious names in football such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a stellar coaching career.

How Clement could have done with one of their ilk to play the role of hero as he tried to mastermind a victory he would need to safeguard his job and push Swansea towards Premier League safety.

Instead, he got substitute Leroy Fer who had the chance to be his saviour in the closing stages of this tense affair only to be left holding his head in his hands after blowing the opportunity to secure his team potentially invaluable win.

Tensions rang high in the clash at the Liberty Stadium (Getty)

Clement rang the changes in a bid to keep hold of his job following a 2-0 defeat at Burnley and there were five new faces in his starting line-up at the Liberty Stadium for the visit of upwardly mobile Bournemouth.

Skipper Wilfried Bony and midfielder Renato Sanches did their best to set a high-tempo tone in the opening exchanges as they harried their visitors as if their lives depended on it as well as Clement’s career prospects.

That was a promising approach but what his players did while in possession was leaden and ponderous compared to Eddie Howe’s team who not only found defending a doddle but also broke forward with ease, especially through Jordon Ibe and Josh King.

After working wonders to keep Swansea in the Premier League last season, 45-year-old’s Clement career seems to be going downhill following those spells as Carlo Ancelotti’s right-hand man at Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich

Jordon Ibe in action for Bournemouth (Getty)

Sanches followed him on loan from Bayern but the Portuguese attacking midfielder looks a lost soul in South Wales and out of his depth, not long since starring for Portugal in their successful for European Championship glory in Paris.

He was outshone by the likes of Andrew Surman and Harry Arter in the midfield trenches and when he did get chance to make amends when Swansea’s first chance of the game came his way, he shot meekly into the side-netting.

Bournemouth looked the more threatening and when King exchanged passes with Marc Pugh, it looked as though the breakthrough would arrive but he shot straight at Lukasz Fabianski from 15 yards.

Swansea were wobbling but then there was a sudden surge of energy and purpose from Sanches and Swansea fans were celebrating what they thought was a goal.

(Getty (Getty)

When his attempted cross was blocked and the ball span into the air, Sanches won a header to direct the ball towards the goalmouth and Jordan Ayew who sent Nathan Ake sprawling and ensured Bony’s celebrations after he lashed home the loose ball were cut short by referee Stuart Attwell.

It was the correct decision but it did at least ensure that Swansea supporters, who turned on Clement and his players a fortnight ago in the 1-0 home defeat by Brighton, vented their spleen towards Attwell.

Swansea improved after the break as Sanches and Tom Carroll raised their game and Ake blocked Ayew’s shot from close range as the hosts sought their first Premier League points since a 2-0 home win over Huddersfield in mid-October.