Competition - Sky Bet Championship Venue - Swansea.com Stadium Date - 8 March 2025 Kick off - 3pm Following their hard fought 0-0 away at Preston, next up for Alan Sheehan’s Swansea squad is a tricky looking home fixture against Play-Off hopefuls Middlesbrough. Last Tuesday evening, the Swans were successful in putting more distance between themselves and the relegation places with a draw at Preston. Milutin Osmajic wasted the best chance of the night, scuffing wide of the target when he seemed certain to score early in the second half. Eom Ji-Sung went closest for the Swans with a free-kick, but it was Preston who were left frustrated by the stalemate having looked the more likely winners for long periods. Preston's 16th league draw of the season means they are without a win in four second-tier games. They remain 15th in the table, nine points adrift of the top six with 11 league matches remaining. The Swans are two points worse off in 16th, with the gap to the bottom three now standing at 10 points. While the Welsh side's performance was unconvincing at times, the result made this a decent night for caretaker boss Alan Sheehan, who has four points from two games since the departure of Luke Williams last month. Last Saturday, Finn Azaz's late goal sent relegation-threatened Derby County bottom of the Championship as they lost 1-0 at Middlesbrough. Azaz had the best first-half chance when he hit the post with a left-footed shot from the edge of the box shortly before half-time as the hosts struggled to break down a compact Rams side. Boro's Morgan Whittaker forced a good save from Jacob Widell Zetterstrom midway through the second half. But just as it seemed new Derby boss John Eustace would get his first point since taking over, Azaz fired in from 12 yards. Boro's first back-to-back wins since November eased the pressure on boss Michael Carrick and saw them move up to eighth in the Championship, two points off the play-offs having slipped out of the top six after five successive losses last month. The Swans have played Boro on 57 previous occasions, winning 19, drawing 12 and losing 26. In the corresponding fixture last season, Boro ran out 1-2 winners: Turning to tomorrow, with ex-Swan Morgan Whittaker in the Boro team - and recognising what invariably happens when we face former players - the Swans will need to score at least 2 to win. Whilst I’m hopeful that we can put in a performance similar to the one against Blackburn, I think that the match will end in a 2-2 draw: 5pts for Sheehan from 3 matches wouldn’t be too shabby
Should be interesting. We've got some momentum, let's see if we can build on it. Think maybe a draw though.
The Swans have failed to win any of their last seven league games against Middlesbrough (D1 L6), since a 2-1 win in March 2021.
Ruebyn Ricardo will be the referee for Swansea City’s Championship meeting with Middlesbrough at the Swansea.com Stadium tomorrow. It will mark the first time Ricardo has taken charge of a Swans fixture, and just the third Championship game he has been at the helm for. Ricardo’s refereeing story began in 2013, when a broken wrist prevented him from playing contact sport, leading his P.E. teacher to hand him the whistle to officiate in school fixtures. He progressed to reach National League level in 2022, and he took charge of his first EFL game the following April as Crewe faced Swindon in League Two. Ricardo took charge of 24 fixtures in the National League and EFL competitions last term, and made his Championship bow on New Year’s Day this season when he oversaw Millwall’s meeting with Oxford, and he has since had the whistle for a game between Norwich City and Derby County. In 27 games in all competitions this season, he has handed out 130 yellow cards and three reds. On Saturday Ricardo will be assisted by Sam Lewis and George Byrne, while Farai Hallam will be the fourth official.
The Swans are nursing a few bumps and bruises following a physical contest at Deepdale in midweek, and are waiting on the fitness of Myles Peart-Harris after he suffered a back injury against Preston. Otherwise there are no new serious injury concerns for caretaker head coach Sheehan. Kristian Pedersen is the only injury absentee for the Swans after Joe Allen returned from an ankle problem. Boro, meanwhile, have suffered a number of injuries in defensive areas, with George Edmundson, Luke Ayling, Darragh Lenihan and Rav van den Berg among those sidelined.
Such a pleasing performance, and that's the word - performance. It had it all, commitment, pace, enthusiasm, dynamism, grit, we had it all. Fantastic result and well deserved. And three clean sheets!! It's like the shackles have been taken off and the players responded and are enjoying themselves. We have a good side and we're now seeing it and seeing the best from Eom and Vip. Ron's got a renewed vigour. Vig and Franco have been great all season, O'brien's a good signing and fits nicely with the new style of play. We finally have a side that can actually compete, provided we can keep it up of course. The signs are good now though. Give Sheehan until the rest of the season, that's only fair and he's earned it. Really chuffed with that, brilliant
