Swansea City 1 Portsmouth 0: Jordan Cross’ verdict as tormentor darkens season with Championship survival concerns laid bare

The Blues tormentor left the bench to strike the killer blow and leave John Mousinho’s side foundering three points from second-tier safety, on an evening the deep, deep extent of their issues became frighteningly apparent in south Wales.

Cullen’s 20-yard strike 12 minutes from time decided it as Mousinho’s side once again found a way to shoot themselves in the foot, in a clash increasingly devoid of inspiration.

The man linked with a move to Fratton Park nearly four years ago was the inspiration for his team’s two-goal fightback last term at the same venue, with a second-half goal and assist in the 2–2 draw.

This time it was three precious survival points he snared for his side, as the week Pompey’s head coach branded potentially ‘season defining’ darkened amid Storm Bram.

It was a night which started promisingly enough for Mousinho’s side, as they offered moments of threat early on. They became distant memories as the evening progressed and any fluency and confidence drained from their game.

The first challenge for Pompey fans was battling their way up the M4 amid Storm Bram, with long delays via the bridge crossings into Wales.

The majority of the hardy 1,100 travelling fans were still making their way into the ground ahead of kick-off, but were still loud enough to make their disdain heard amid a pre-match light show at the Swansea.com Stadium.

There were early concerning moments for the travelling faithful to consider, as Brazilian winger Ronald got behind Zak Swanson early on but the makeshift left-back did enough to snuff the threat out.

Then South Korean winger Jisung Eom got the better of both Terry Devlin and a backpeddling Marlon Pack, before a drive across which amounted to a let-off for the visitors.

Pompey’s response was impressive, however, with the patient passing conspicuous in the aborted Charlton weekend clash once again apparent.

It was Josh Murphy who served warning of his omnipresent threat with a series of raids down the left flank. One testing ball in after an end-to-end move, was bettered in the 10th minute with a delivery which dropped invitingly for Conor Chaplin. The drive from the fans’ favourite was true, but Lawrence Vigouroux’s outstretched arm was equal to it.

What was abundantly clear, early on however, was Mousinho’s message for this side to build expansively amid six changes was remaining consistent.

The Pompey boss was calling for a red as Ben Cabango hauled down a breaking Callum Lang after 13 lively minutes, but the covering Cameron Burgess meant the card colour was yellow.

A basketball of a match was developing, with Ethan Galbraith firing over before £6m striker Adam Idah couldn’t get the decisive headed touch on Galbraith’s teasing ball in.

The Blues’ calamitous set-piece record nearly struck again with a third of the game gone. The intake of breath from the away end was justified, but fortunately Cameron Burgess near-post header landed on top of Nico Schmid’s net.

The collective weight of no goal contributions since his Pompey return could be seen in Chaplin’s decision making in the 32nd minute. A shot was clearly on from 20 yards as the visitors broke promisingly, but his instead opted to tee up Murphy and the chance dissipated.

Bowat was then caught napping with Idah towards the end of the half, with Melker Widell consequently firing at Schmid.

Concerns at the end of the half as Lang went down proved unfounded, with Pompey going in satisfied with their position in the game.

Pompey were forced into a change four minutes after the restart as Swanson’s evening was curtailed through injury, with no visible incident leading to Jordan Williams replacing him.

A more confident finish from Idah could’ve brought a damaging impact four minutes later, but Schmid was equal to his low drive which lacked conviction.

Murphy was then a whisker away from the opener with a low 25-yard drive, before Swansea sent for the heavy artillery in top scorer Zan Vipotnik and previous Blues tormentor Liam Cullen from the bench.

It was Murphy who was once again looking the man most likely for Mousinho’s men, as another charge and hit brought a reaction stop from Vigouroux.

Pompey’s makeshift back line was showing signs of creaking as they readied a triple change, with Vipotnik catching Bowat napping again before unleashing a drive into the side-netting.

Colby Bishop, Harvey Blair and Arian Segecic were all then introduced with 20 minutes remaining. Lang, Chaplin and Yang made way.

Murphy was a whisker away from conceding a spot-kick as he dangled a leg for Galbraith to go over with 15 minutes left. Referee Tom Reeves was disinterested, however, with the meeting just outside the box in any event.

Then came the game’s defining moment, with a scruffy swipe of Cullen’s boot deciding the argument.

Schmid was required to stop the damage becoming greater, with an outstanding stop from Ronald as time ticked down.

Pompey’s brittle belief was now broken, however, with flickers of early promise long, long forgotten.

Segecic’s poke at the death briefly raised hopes of an unlikely leveller but his effort ended among the despondent away followers, who are now left fearful how much more damage lies in wait before reinforcements can be called upon.