Tammy Abraham Double Puts Huddersfield Into Troubled Waters
Swansea reduced some of the early pressure on their points tally in a positive 2-0 win at the Liberty Stadium to lift them temporarily free of the relegation zone and leave Huddersfield wondering where the goals might come from.
A possible early relegation six-pointer awaited at the Liberty Stadium as a Swansea side with one win in seven took on Huddersfield, who had no wins in five matches. With the Swans eighteenth and the Terriers only eleventh because of their strong start, this was a big match.
The home side began marginally on top in terms of passages of play, Tammy Abraham forcing an early save out of Jonas Lossl in the visitors' goal. Jordan Ayew's effort from the resulting corner also came close.
The following fifteen minutes were devoid of any chances from the newly-promoted Huddersfield, with Swansea creating a couple of half-chances for Leroy Fer and Abraham hoping for a handball outside of the area.
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However, their first should have been buried into the back of the net when Tom Ince capitalised on some soft defending only to smash over from the edge of the six-yard box. In the next attack, Ince looked to have been brought down in the area by Martin Olsson - but not for the referee.
This fairly dull offering was in desperate need of a goal, and the fans were thankfully given that gift - the home ones, at least, who will have been grateful to Lossl. He simply passed the ball directly to the gleeful Tom Carroll, who only needed to give it to Abraham and watch him score.
Half time was called four minutes later, which at least gave Lossl an opportunity to recover himself in the dressing room (probably with a few chairs thrown).
Unfortunately, there was no hiding place again when Huddersfield were opened up within minutes of the second half starting, the ball squirting from a tackle on Luciano Narsingh to Ayew, who flicked over Lossl with Abraham arriving again to bundle in his second of the game.
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The visitors' woes were added to when Phillip Billing turned on his ankle and required a stretcher to receive some treatment. It was not long before their scoreline woes were put under even more pressure as a low Narsingh cross just evaded Abraham.
Paul Clement made two substitutions in an effort to see the game out comfortably, with Ki Sung-yeung and Nathan Dyer on. Huddersfield's chances of making a recovery looked well and truly snuffed out, with all the pressure coming from the home team.
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Having said that, it might not have been as comfortable had Rajiv van La Parra's deflected effort dropped a little lower. It came from the edge of the area, and nicked off the top of the bar. Beforehand, Abraham again missed out on a hat trick as a Dyer cross bounced beyond him.
The five minutes of injury time were a formality as Swansea cruised to victory and David Wagner was left with a few problems to ponder in his toothless Huddersfield side.
