Swansea City 3-0 Stoke City: Superb Swans put Potters to the sword to ease relegation fears

Swansea City eased any lingering relegation concerns by thrashing Stoke City at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Liam Cullen's seventh goal of the season midway inside the first half got the hosts up and running, after Jay Fulton had clattered a low effort off the post, on a night brimming with attacking endeavour from the Swans.

Niall Ennis had the ball in the net for the visitors following a mistake from Carl Rushworth, but saw his effort ruled out following a collision as the Brighton loanee was attempting a throw.

A third home win in four for the Swans was sealed just after half-time, as Matt Grimes thundered in a superb penalty, before Josh Key rounded off a superb move for a third around 17 minutes from time.

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The result leaves Swansea seven points clear of the dropzone ahead of the visit of already-doomed Rotherham United on Saturday, while the manner of this win will have provided the perfect tonic for what was a disappointing outing at Middlesbrough last time out.

Indeed, results elsewhere ensured the gap between the Swans and the bottom three was down to just four points at the start of the evening, resulting in a fairly twitchy atmosphere heading into this one.

Some might well have been wondering how the dreaded r-word had even entered the conversation again. After conquering Cardiff City in the South Wales derby, the overriding feeling was that Swansea were more or less home and dry.

Victory over the Bluebirds was supposed to be the platform on which to build a strong end to the season, but since that sensational day, the Swans had previously carried about as much momentum as an asthmatic tortoise with some heavy shopping.

Luke Williams himself struggled to hide his own annoyances after the limp defeat on Teesside, a performance he declared 'unacceptable' before going on to demand some 'blood and thunder' from his side, against a Stoke outfit that had previously enjoyed back-to-back wins on the road.

With that in mind, he will have surely been delighted with what he saw here

Fulton sliced wide within the opening exchanges as Swansea eased their way onto the front foot early on, with the midfielder coming even closer on 14 minutes, drilling a low effort onto the outside of the post following some clever work from Jamie Paterson.

And it was Paterson at the heart of what was a deserved opening goal, receiving the ball back from Grimes following a short free-kick, before clipping in a cross that found the foot of Cullen, who got ahead of his man to poke home.

Cullen might have had a second just moments later had he kept a crashing drive down, and it probably wouldn't have flattered the Swans, such was the nature of their encouraging start.

Even so, Wouter Burger probably should have tested Rushworth at the other end after rising highest to meet a Million Manhoef corner, but could only head wide.

A let-off for the Swans, and hearts were surely in mouths when Ennis bundled home in bizarre circumstances after a mistake from Rushworth, who appeared to lose control of the ball after attempting a throw. Replays suggested he had made contact with Ennis, who pounced onto the loose ball before poking home, only for referee Keith Stroud to rule it out.

Stoke were seemingly emboldened by that flash point, with Manhoef drilling just wide 10 minutes before the break.

Frustrations began to creep in for the hosts, and threatened to boil over completely on the stroke of half-time, with Paterson perhaps lucky to pick up just a yellow card after clattering into Burger with a heavy sliding challenge.

However, they steadied themselves to tighten their grip on the contest shortly after half-time as McNally clipped Cooper on the edge of the area.

There's perhaps some debate as to whether it was inside the area, but Stroud had seen enough to point to the spot, and Grimes made no mistake smashing home his fourth goal of the season from resulting penalty.

Stoke laboured in their attempts to pull one back, with Josh Laurent firing wide on the turn inside the box, but Swansea weren't to be denied, and added gloss to a hugely satisfying night with a really well-worked third.

Substitute Jamal Lowe got the better of McNally on the left-hand side, before darting forward to tee up Key, who wrong-footed the Stoke defence with a superb touch before lashing into the net.

Lowe nearly had a goal of his own a few minutes later, but his audacious lob was narrowly too high. Grimes too couldn't keep a free-kick down, but there was little room for disappointment on what many will consider one of Swansea's best performances of the season.

If the Swans can now keep up some semblance of momentum there's a chance this campaign might just end on something of a high after all.

Swansea City: Rushworth; Key (Walsh 77), Darling, Cabango, Tymon; Fulton (Abdulai 77), Grimes; Ronald, Cooper (Lowe 69), Paterson (Govea 77); Cullen (Patino 83)

Subs: Fisher, Yates, Kuharevich, Humphreys

Stoke City: Iversen; Hoever, McNally, Rose, Stevens (Baker 79); Laurent, Burger (Thompson 64) ; Manhoef (Campbell 64), Bae (Cundle 46), Vidigal; Ennis (Leris 64)

Subs: Bonham, Wilmot, Haksabanovic, Tchamadeu