Swansea 2-1 Wolves: Jordan Ayew and Wilfried Bony on target for Premier League side as Carlos Carvalhal's men progress to FA Cup fourth round

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Jordan Ayew produced a carbon copy of Ricky Villa’s immortal 1981 FA Cup Final goal to point Swansea into this year’s fourth round.

The Swans’ Portuguese boss Carlos Carvalhal admitted he’d never heard of Villa’s classic. ‘I’ll look it up on YouTube,’ he promised.

And sadly Ayew’s effort, weaving past five defenders before tucking the ball into the bottom corner, is unlikely to be found anywhere else either. 

Swansea are through to the FA Cup fourth round after they beat Wolves 2-1 on Wednesday 

Jordan Ayew opened the scoring with a sublime goal inside 11 minutes at the Liberty Stadium

The Ghanaian jinked past a number of defenders before firing beyond goalkeeper Will Norris

In pouring rain in a third round replay that wasn’t on TV, and in front of a half empty stadium, it won’t get replayed over and over like Villa’s glory moment or even Ricky George’s bullet shot for Hereford. 

It wasn’t even the winner. That came from a stabbed shot by Wilfried Bony late in the second half and shortly after Diogo Jota had come on as sub to equalise.

But for Carvalhal, looking for ways to create momentum in the seemingly impossible task of saving rock bottom Swansea from relegation, it was every bit as beautiful.

‘We are building confidence,’ he said. ‘The team are progressing and it is good to get some momentum because victory is important.

‘I am so pleased for Jordan, he deserved it, he is a team player, he works for his mates and in the last few minutes when he had given everything he still didn’t stop running.

‘You saw in the last 10 minutes when we had to close the game the whole team were fighting, everybody came back and helped.’ 

Second-half substitute Diogo Jota then drew the visitors level with a well-taken goal

He dribbled through the Swans defence before calmly slotting home to restore parity

Their lead only lasted a matter of three minutes though with Wilfried Bony finding the net

The striker battled past defenders to poke home Tom Carroll's cross to seal victory

Ayew had just squandered a chance after a mistake by Kortney Hause had set him clear, but there was no stopping him when with nine minutes on the clock he set off on his slalom run.

He went between two tackles, skipped aside from two more, then pushed the ball away from a fifth challenge before drilling it low beyond goalkeeper Will Norris

In front of the dugout Carvalhal leapt and punched the air, and he’d deserved the good start in reward for his approach to the tie.

Carvalhal picked pretty much his strongest side to try and lift the mood in their survival fight while in contrast Nuno Espirito Santo made eight changes to his runaway Championship leaders.

Maybe he didn’t quite understand the club’s distant history in the competition – they won it for the fourth time in 1960 - and what it still means. Around two thousand of their fans packed the away end on a wet night in Wales.

Bony's goal means Swansea will now go to League Two side Notts County in the fourth round

Wolves winger Helder Costa had a chance earlier on but his shot whistled wide of the goal

Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal looked on as he tried to keep warm on the touchline

Certainly Swansea’s positive approach appeared the more successful. Ayew can be maddeningly inconsistent, but the boost in confidence could be seen as he struck a superb cross field pass a few moments after his goal.

And it was getting on for half time before Wolves got any sort of toe-hold in the game, with Alfie Mawson blocking Alfred N’Diaye’s shot after a Barry Douglas free kick hadn’t been properly cleared.

Wolves upped the stakes on the hour when Santo sent on top scorers Leo Bonatini and Diogo Jota. 

Nuno Espirito Santo rested the bulk of his front line players to prepare for Nottingham Forest

England's Under 17 World Cup winner Morgan Gibbs-White was handed a start in midfield

It reaped immediate benefits as Jota took down Roderick Miranda’s long ball and got away from Federico Fernandez before firing home.

To their credit Swansea responded instantly. Tom Carroll’s ball into the box created havoc and Bony was sharp enough to react and stab it home.

So in the end it was a scruffy one that booked an away tie at Notts County – but the real winner had been a thing of absolute beauty. 

The Championship leaders will now be solely focused on securing Premier League promotion