Zan Vipotnik earns Swansea victory at Oxford

Zan Vipotnik scored his 12th goal of the season for Swansea as they completed a Championship double over managerless Oxford with a 1-0 win at the Kassam Stadium.

The Slovenia international powerfully headed in Josh Tymon’s left-wing cross in the 14th minute.

This was a crunch clash between two relegation-threatened teams, and the Swans probably deserved to take the spoils.

Oxford’s interim boss Craig Short named an unchanged team following the 2-1 Boxing Day win over Southampton which lifted them out of the bottom three on goal difference.

Swansea started on the front foot and Tymon sent over a low cross from the left which flashed across the face of the goal, with goalkeeper Jamie Cumming finger-tipping the ball away from danger.

Tymon was the provider again as Swansea went ahead through Vipotnik’s fine finish.

Brian De Keersmaecker warmed the hands of Swans goalkeeper Lawrence Vigoroux with a fierce 25-yard free-kick, while at the other end Oxford’s defence allowed Eom Ji-sung to run 15 yards unchallenged before he unleashed a piledriver that Cumming palmed away.

The Welsh club began to dominate the middle of the park as Oxford struggled for cohesion.

However, they did raise a head of steam in the closing stages of the first half, with Stan Mills sending over two dangerous crosses from the left and Ciaron Brown having a goal-bound shot blocked.

Eom went on a skilful run early in the second half and Zeidane Inoussa felt he should have had a penalty as the Swans continued to dominate the second half.

There was a golden opportunity for substitute Goncalo Franco to double the visitors’ lead from Eom’s pass but he screwed his shot well wide.

Vipotnik’s shot and a Cameron Burgess header tested Cumming again.

Oxford brought on the pacy Siriki Dembele and twice Swansea defenders had to resort to hacking him down to stop him.

But the Swans held out for a valuable three points, greatly aiding their bid to climb away from the relegation places, while Oxford drop back into the bottom three.