Swansea City Unbeaten After Dominating Derby County
Swansea City walked into Pride Park, scored with their first attack and never really looked back. By the time Ronald drilled in a third in stoppage time, Derby County were being booed off and Vitor Matos’ side were quietly tightening their grip on an impressive start to the Championship season.
Three games, seven points. Still unbeaten. And on this evidence, still gathering speed.
Swans strike early, Derby crumble
Derby actually had the ball in the net first. Ryan Hedges finished after just 18 seconds, sparking brief celebration in the stands, but it was cut short by the officials. It turned out to be as close as John Eustace’s team would get in a lifeless first half-hour, during which they failed to register a meaningful effort on goal.
Swansea’s response was ruthless. Their first attack, in the second minute, cut straight through Derby’s left side. Eom Ji-sung was allowed to glide unchallenged down the channel, head up, waiting for the right moment. He picked it perfectly, cutting the ball back for Joseph Opoku, whose 12-yard strike took a deflection and spun inside Jacob Widell Zetterstrom’s bottom-right corner.
Opoku, a summer arrival from Zulte Waregem, already looks at home. This was his second goal of the campaign, and he nearly had another before the break. When Stephen Welsh floated a teasing ball into the six-yard box, Opoku flung himself at it, his acrobatic volley just clearing the crossbar with Zetterstrom stranded.
Derby’s one small mercy came midway through the half when Opoku limped off injured. Any sense of relief was short-lived. Swansea simply shifted the point of attack and kept coming, especially down the right.
Melker Widell stung Zetterstrom’s hands with a shot the goalkeeper spilled nervously before recovering. Adam Idah then ghosted in at the far post and dragged a decent chance wide. Derby were hanging on, and doing little to change the rhythm of the game.
Eom doubles the damage
Derby finally flickered into life late in the half. Max Johnston broke into the box, but from a tight angle he could only smash into the side-netting. It felt like a half-chance at best. Swansea punished them almost immediately.
On 44 minutes, Widell again found space on the right and delivered. Idah met the cross with a firm header that Zetterstrom did well to save low to his right. But the rebound rolled loose and Eom, alive to the moment, followed in to tap into an empty net from a yard out.
A goal created, a goal scored. The South Korea international walked off at half-time with a goal and an assist, and Derby trudged off to a soundtrack of frustration from the stands.
Eustace did not hide his anger. He ripped up his initial plan at the break, making three substitutions in an attempt to jolt his side into life. He later admitted he did not want to, with players still short of full fitness, but felt he had no choice.
Derby rally, but Swansea stay in control
For a brief spell, the changes worked. Lewis Travis and Charlie Taylor both tried their luck from distance, each effort taking a deflection and veering away from goal. Derby pushed higher, snapped into tackles, and at last forced Swansea back.
The visitors, though, never lost their shape. They stayed calm, waited for space to open, and when it did, they should have buried Derby long before stoppage time.
Zan Vipotnik was the first to pass up a golden chance. Moussa Yeo and Eom combined sharply down the left, slicing Derby open, and the cut-back left Vipotnik with the goal at his mercy. He shot straight at Zetterstrom, who blocked with relief more than authority.
Moments later, Yeo himself sprinted clear through the right channel, chasing a long, direct ball from Lawrence Vigoroux that Derby’s back line failed to deal with. Yeo drove towards the near post and unleashed a low strike, but again Zetterstrom stood firm.
Swansea were hunting the third goal that would finish it. They were perhaps guilty of a touch of anxiety in front of goal, as Matos suggested, but the pressure never really relented.
Ronald finishes the job, boos for Derby
When the third goal came, it was simple and brutal. A shot from Stephen Eustaquio was blocked on the edge of the area, the ball breaking kindly to Ronald. He needed no second invitation, drilling low into Zetterstrom’s bottom-right corner to complete a dominant away performance.
Derby’s response was silence, then anger. This was the first time they had failed to score in a league game at Pride Park since last September, ending a 24-match run. The final whistle brought a chorus of boos, directed at both the performance and the wider mood of a side still without a win this season.
Eustace did not hide behind excuses. He called the display “unacceptable”, admitted his team are “lacking in confidence” and “crying out” for more quality, and even questioned the body language of some players in the second half. He also took full responsibility, insisting the blame lay with his selection, coaching and tactical calls.
On the opposite touchline, Matos spoke of maturity, energy and a group “enjoying playing together”. Swansea, he stressed, have tougher tests ahead and a difficult run of fixtures to navigate. But they are already showing they can adapt to different styles and still impose their own.
Three games into the campaign, one team looks like it knows exactly what it wants to be. The other is still searching for a first win, a first spark, and perhaps a bit of belief. How long can Pride Park’s patience hold if nights like this keep coming?
