Wilfried Bony seals victory in the 69th minute soon after Diego Jota pulls Championship leaders Wolves level
JORDAN AYEW took the Ricky Villa route to goal to create his own moment of FA Cup magic.
What a pity that there was hardly anyone there to see it.
Jordan Ayew slots Swansea ahead in the 11th minute
Swansea’s Ghanaian international slalomed his way through the entire Wolves defence for a goal he will never forget.
It was reminiscent of Villa’s famous Wembley winner for Spurs in the 1981 FA Cup final replay against Manchester City.
The bearded Argentine has dined out on that goal ever since, but Ayew’s only reward will be a trip to League Two Notts County a week on Saturday.
And absolutely no-one wants that.
The rain-lashed Liberty Stadium was almost three-quarters empty as the long-suffering Swansea fans turned their backs on this third round replay.
And few who had sat through the goalless first encounter at Molineux would have been expecting the kind of quality which Ayew produced for his 11th minute strike.
At least five defenders were left trailing in the striker’s wake as he dribbled through the congested Wolves penalty-area before shooting past keeper Will Norris.
It was the first goal Norris had conceded in six cup appearances for Wolves this season and it took something extra special to beat him.
Ayew has now scored four goals in his last seven appearances and is going to be key to Swansea’s Premier League survival hopes in the coming months.
He could have struck even sooner when centre-half Kortney Hause slipped on the ball but was unable to get his shot off before Roderick Miranda came across to block.
And Roque Mesa was not too far from doubling Swansea’s lead with a ferocious volley from the edge of the area which flew narrowly wide.
Wolves, ten points clear at the top of the Championship and unbeaten in their previous 14 games, were not at the races for the first half hour.
They appeared to be doing their level best to get knocked out of the world’s oldest competition so they can focus all their attentions on securing promotion.
But they finally came to life late in the first-half when Alfred N’Diaye’s attempted shot was charged down by Alfie Mawson.
Bright Enobakhare was denied by another last-ditch block from Federico Fernandez and Helder Costa thought he should have had a second-half penalty when he went down under Mawson’s challenge.
But it was only the travelling supporters who appealed for that one. The Wolves players were happy to let it go if it meant avoiding the possibility of extra-time.
Yet the message clearly hadn’t got through to substitute Diego Jota, who scored within three minutes of his introduction with a shot which trickled in off the base of Kristoffer Nordfeldt’s near post.
Fortunately for everyone, the threat of extra-time was immediately eradicated by Wilfried Bony’s 69th minute winner, stabbed in at the second attempt from close range.
It means Swansea have now lost only one of their last five games since Carlos Carvalhal was appointed manager.
There are clear signs of a revival underway at the Liberty but it might be too late to save them from the drop and they could probably do without another game in the FA Cup.
