Ten-man Swansea snatch dramatic win

Posted Sunday, September 02, 2018 by PA

Oli McBurnie’s late winner gave Swansea City an unlikely 2-1 victory at Millwall after they were forced to play most of the match with 10 men.

The Swans were a man light for over 85 minutes after having Football League debutant Courtney Baker-Richardson sent off but the Lions failed to take advantage, despite scoring first through Murray Wallace.

While Millwall will certainly be kicking themselves, Swansea deserve full credit for the way they hit their opponents with a double sucker-punch to pick up their first win in four league games.

Swansea had two players making their first league starts for the club, in academy product Daniel James and Baker-Richardson, who signed from non-league Leamington last year.

Baker-Richardson’s bow was to last less than five minutes, however, as the 22-year-old was given a straight red card for a reckless challenge on James Meredith.

Lee Gregory wasted a good opening for Millwall when the striker selfishly shot wildly over the bar when he had Meredith arriving unmarked at the back post.

The Lions should have been ahead in the 24th minute when Steve Morison headed on Meredith’s long pass to put Jed Wallace in the clear, but he miscued horribly wide.

Gregory then extravagantly flicked wide from just inside the box after another flick-on from Morison, as Millwall not surprisingly made most of the running but were unable to force a breakthrough before half-time.

It finally arrived in the 62nd minute when Jake Cooper headed Shaun Williams’ corner back across goal for fellow centre-back Murray Wallace to finish from close range.

The Lions continued to press, with Ryan Tunnicliffe just unable to reach a dangerous low cross from substitute Jiri Skalak.

Swansea sensationally hit back with 14 minutes to go, however, when Jefferson Montero found Kyle Naughton on the edge of the area and his well-struck shot found the bottom corner for his second goal for the club.

Millwall almost hit back when Skalak’s rising effort went narrowly over the bar but the Swans then stunned everybody by snatching a winner. Bersant Celina’s clever ball put Montero in behind and his low cross was tapped in at the far post by McBurnie.

That was not the end of the drama, with Tom Carroll hitting the post for the visitors before Tom Elliott stuck the underside of the bar for Millwall with what was virtually the game’s final touch.