Swansea City all-but secured their Sky Bet Championship status as Andy Rinomhota’s own-goal earned them a 1-0 win over relegated Rotherham.

Luke Williams’ side dominated throughout and saw Liam Cullen, Jamie Paterson and Ronald all have chances to bulge the net.

But midfielder Rinomhota turned into his own net from a corner in the 74th minute to hand Swansea all three points.

Victory leaves Swansea eight points clear of the relegation zone with three matches left to play, while Rotherham remain bottom and without an away league triumph this season.

Buoyed by their emphatic 3-0 win over Stoke three days earlier, the Swans were on the front foot from the outset in south Wales.

The first chance fell to the hosts as Paterson pounced on Sebastian Revan’s heavy touch before threading through to Cullen, whose low driven effort was kept out by Viktor Johansson.

It set the tone for what was to come as Leam Richardson’s side desperately struggled to get hold of possession.

Rotherham’s only effort of note saw former Swan Sam Clucas – who was regularly jeered by the home supporters – scuff a volley wide on 19 minutes.

The Millers looked every bit a side without an away league win in 34 matches, but, despite dominating possession, Swansea struggled to test Johansson after Cullen’s early effort.

While their control was evident, Jay Fulton’s unorthodox header from a short free-kick routine typified Swansea’s lack of cutting edge in the final third.

But they appeared destined to go ahead three minutes before half-time when Paterson robbed Cameron Humphreys of the ball just inside Rotherham’s half before charging down on goal, although his tame effort was comfortably saved by Johansson.

Brazilian winger Ronald then stung the palms of Johansson with a thumping strike from the edge of the box as the contest remained level at the break.

There was precious little for either side to shout about after the restart as the pattern of the contest remained the same.

Shortly after Harry Darling’s driven strike was blocked, Ronald’s half-volley was comfortably gathered by Johansson.

Josh Tymon then picked out Cullen whose header looped wide as Williams sent on Jamal Lowe with 25 minutes left on the clock.

Rinomhota blazed well over from distance following a rare foray forwards from the visitors, who sent on Tom Eaves while Liam Walsh and Aimar Govea entered the fray for Swansea.

But the decisive moment came in the 74th minute as substitute Walsh’s corner was headed into his own net by Rinomhota.

Rotherham’s best chance came with the final play of the game as Arvin Appiah crossed to Eaves, whose header flashed wide at the death.

It ensured hosts claimed back-to-back wins for the second time under Williams, with Rotherham losing for the third game running after failing to register a single shot on target at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Luke Williams urged his Swansea players to show the same intensity and aggression they displayed in their 3-0 win over Stoke across their final four games of the Championship season.

The Swans were largely dominant against the Potters and went ahead through Liam Cullen’s seventh goal of the campaign on 19 minutes.

Matt Grimes bagged Swansea’s second from the penalty spot in the 53rd minute after Luke McNally tripped Ollie Cooper.

Josh Key completed a fine win for the hosts in south Wales by rifling into the roof of the net after slick play from Jamal Lowe on the left wing in the 73rd minute.

And Williams has called on his players to end what has been a frustrating campaign in style by replicating their efforts from their emphatic win over Steven Schumacher’s men.

“When we sit and review the (previous three) games, without the emotion on the day, we’re controlling the game in the last three games we played,” explained Williams.

“We get there and we fizzle out a little bit. We gave not too much to the opposition but then something was missing.

“We’re getting there and not quite scoring, we’re keeping the opposition out and they get a chance and score from nothing, so there was something missing.

“But tonight we put the intensity and aggression, all of that lovely stuff, we put back in and got a really great result.

“We have to finish off now, the bare minimum, we have to play with that type of intensity and connection. I want us to continue like that.”

Victory lifted Swansea seven points clear of the relegation zone while Stoke remain only three points above the bottom three.

And Schumacher conceded that his side – whose three-game unbeaten run came to an end in south Wales – were second best against Swansea.

“I felt we got beat by the better team on the night, Swansea in all departments were better than us,” he said.

“They won all of the battles, the 50:50s and they also passed the ball better and were brighter from set-piece moments.

“It was a poor performance from us and it’s one that we weren’t expecting because we’ve been playing really well.

“We just fell a bit low tonight and we got punished.

“That’s the Championship for you, if you’re not at it 100 per cent you can get turned over.”

The Stoke boss was left unimpressed with referee Keith Stroud’s decision to rule out Niall Ennis’ first-half goal and the referee’s call to award Swansea a spot-kick.

“There’s also a few key decisions that’s gone against us,” added Schumacher.

“In any game in the Championship you need those big decisions to go for you, tonight unfortunately they didn’t go our way.

“I won’t use that as an excuse because the overall performance wasn’t good enough and they (Swansea) were better anyway.”

Swansea eased any lingering relegation concerns by beating Stoke 3-0 to leave the Potters hovering perilously above the Championship drop zone.

Liam Cullen poked Jamie Paterson’s cross beyond Daniel Iversen to put Swansea ahead in the 19th minute before Matt Grimes doubled the hosts’ lead after 53 minutes with a penalty after Luke McNally tripped Ollie Cooper.

Josh Key capped off a fine victory for Luke Williams’ men with his second goal of the campaign after 73 minutes as Swansea claimed a first win in four, ending Stoke’s three-game unbeaten run and leaving them three points above the bottom three.

The Swans started on the front foot as former Stoke defender Josh Tymon teed up Jay Fulton who drilled well wide.

The hosts should have gone ahead in the 13th minute as Paterson left Ki-Jana Hoever spinning before picking out Fulton who could only rifle against the post from 10 yards.

But Swansea did take the lead soon after following a quickly taken free-kick.

Captain Grimes fed Paterson who had acres of space to cross to Cullen who poked home his seventh of the season from close range.

Cullen had a chance to double his side’s lead moments later when Grimes intercepted Michael Rose’s wayward clearance, although the Welshman could only volley over from the edge of the 18-yard box.

Stoke struggled to threaten in the torrid south Wales rain, with Wouter Burger heading wide from Million Manhoef’s corner just before the half-hour mark.

The Potters thought they had equalised in bizarre fashion just seconds later though when Rose chipped into the Swansea box.

Goalkeeper Carl Rushworth gathered the ball before losing control after an unintentional collision with Niall Ennis who duly poked into the net, although the goal was swiftly disallowed by referee Keith Stroud.

After a slow start, Steven Schumacher’s men found a foothold in the contest, with Manhoef flashing an effort wide.

And they spurned a fine chance to level proceedings in the dying seconds of the first half when Ennis played Manhoef through on goal, although Harry Darling recovered to force the Dutchman to fire wide from an acute angle.

They were ruthlessly punished for not taking their chances as Swansea doubled their lead with a penalty after the break.

McNally tripped Cooper on the edge of the area, and Grimes stepped up to rifle into the roof of the net from the spot.

Cullen almost got his second of the night from a well-worked corner routine minutes later, although his deflected effort trickled inches wide.

But Swansea got their third late on as Jamal Lowe danced up the left wing, teeing up Key whose first touch took him beyond Rose before unleashing a fierce effort into the net.

Luke Williams believed Swansea produced the “most complete performance” of his tenure so far as they claimed a 2-0 Championship victory over derby rivals Cardiff.

Liam Cullen put Swansea ahead in the 34th minute before missing a penalty six minutes into the second half.

But Jamal Lowe bagged his seventh goal of the season – in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage-time – to cap off a fine win for the Swans, who ended the Bluebirds’ four-game winning streak.

It was Swansea’s fifth win from six matches against Cardiff and went some way to avenging their 2-0 loss in the reverse fixture last September.

“We won in a really positive way, I can’t argue with the way we went about it today,” said the Swansea boss.

“I think the combination of intensity and aggression combined with calmness and clarity is something we’re all striving for.

“I think it’s fair to say we’ve seen one or the other in recent performances or we’ve seen periods where we’ve done both well.

“But today felt like the most complete performance so far.

“It’s unrealistic for us to expect to not have any pressure (against us), but we were very dominant for the majority of the game and the big chances in the game, we created all of them.”

Meanwhile, opposite number Erol Bulut admitted some of his players went “hiding” as Cardiff failed to cope with the hosts’ intensity in the first-half.

The Bluebirds failed to register a single shot on target in the opening 45 and – on the whole – flattered to deceive as they missed out on securing a first-ever league double over the Swans.

And Bulut was less than impressed with the way his players started the contest at the Swansea.com Stadium.

“With the pressing Swansea made against us, we had to keep the ball in midfield, but we didn’t ask for the ball in midfield, we were hiding too much in the midfield,” he said.

“If you are hiding, you cannot get out of the press. You have to ask for the ball, this was not there in the first half.

“That’s why in the second half I made the changes, bringing two players in and we managed it a little bit better and the rest who came in, I think it was quite good.

“We will not put our heads down and make big trouble of this because we lost.

“When we see the last weeks, how we worked and how we came back when we’ve been on the bottom, we will be back again.

“We still have eight games to play, we have the international break, we will rest well, train well and come back strong again.”

Swansea were dealt a blow as Ben Cabango missed out with a calf injury and is now poised to be unavailable for Wales’ Euro 2024 play-off campaign.

Cabango’s fellow defender Kyle Naughton was withdrawn during the derby due to a hamstring issue, with Williams stating the injury “doesn’t look good”.

Swansea claimed the south Wales derby bragging rights with a 2-0 win over Cardiff.

Liam Cullen volleyed beyond Ethan Horvath – his sixth goal of the season – after 34 minutes in what was a dominant first-half showing from Swansea.

Cullen then missed a penalty in the 51st minute as Cardiff improved in the second half, but Jamal Lowe struck in injury-time to earn Luke Williams’ men all three points.

It ensured the Swans earned back-to-back home wins for the first time under Williams, while defeat ended Cardiff’s four-game winning run.

The Swans clearly meant business as they sought to avenge their 2-0 loss in the reverse fixture – with Harry Darling and Cullen having decent efforts early on.

Cardiff looked nervy and almost fell behind in the 16th minute when Jamie Paterson’s lofted cross found Darling unmarked, although the centre-back’s header crashed off the crossbar.

The hosts were left incensed moments later when Yakou Meite escaped a red card for pushing his head into the face of Darling.

The Bluebirds eventually showed signs of settling and saw Dimitrios Goutas poke wide from a David Turnbull corner.

But Swansea got the breakthrough their efforts warranted just after the half-hour mark following sublime work from January signing Ronald.

The Brazilian winger lifted the ball over Josh Wilson-Esbrand before darting 40 yards upfield and laying off to Kyle Naughton.

The experienced defender’s floated delivery found Cullen, who coolly volleyed beyond Horvath at the back post to send the home fans into raptures.

Ronald himself then rifled over as the Swans looked for a second, and Erol Bulut will no doubt have been pleased to reach half-time with his side only a goal down.

The Cardiff boss sent Rubin Colwill and Callum O’Dowda on for Turnbull and Meite, although they made a disastrous start to the second-half as Perry Ng conceded a penalty for dragging down Ronald.

However, first-half goal hero Cullen could only fire the spot-kick wide to give Cardiff hope.

The miss certainly lifted Cardiff’s spirits, with Nat Phillips heading at Carl Rushworth before Colwill lashed over as the visitors finally threatened.

Bulut’s men enjoyed more periods in possession as Ollie Tanner and Josh Key replaced Josh Bowler and Naughton respectively.

Ronald – now on the left flank – continued to show his quality though and beautifully picked out Cullen who headed wide.

Ollie Cooper, Lowe and Jay Fulton were all summoned from the bench, while Wales star Aaron Ramsey returned after a month on the sidelines with 19 minutes left on the clock.

The final stages were cagey as Horvath comfortably gathered Matt Grimes’ free-kick before Goutas headed over at the other end.

But Lowe rounded Horvath before drilling into the net in the sixth minute of added time as Swansea clinched a third successive home win over their neighbours, who lost ground in the race for a Sky Bet Championship play-off spot.

Liam Rosenior felt Hull’s 1-0 home defeat to Swansea was deserved after they dropped out of the Sky Bet Championship’s top six.

Liam Cullen scored after 10 minutes as the Swans pulled further away from the relegation zone by beating a Hull side who lacked the final pass to open up their opponents.

Rosenior admitted: “We didn’t deserve anything today. One of the few times I can say that since I’ve been here.

“When you do that, you give the opposition momentum. Credit to Swansea, we gave them a leg up and they won the game.”

Swansea benefited from Cullen’s free run into the area and Rosenior admitted his players needed to be more astute in that kind of situation.

He said: “If we mark the player properly we don’t get blocked. That’s the things we work on in training.

“One, our performance wasn’t good enough by our standards, and two, we’ve cost ourselves a point.

“We gave the ball away cheaply and when you do that you give the opposition energy, you give them oxygen.

“I told (the players) what we have to improve on. We have to bounce back from the setbacks. We need to learn on the job.”

Cullen got the only goal of the game when he ran into the Hull area to meet a low corner with a pinpoint shot which nestled in the bottom-left corner of the goal.

Hull looked short of the ideas which could have unlocked the determined defending of Swansea and their best chance fell to second-half substitute Billy Sharp.

The forward got on the end of a long pass from Ozan Turfan and prodded the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Carl Rushworth, only to see Nathan Wood race back to clear short of the goal-line.

Turfan had headed straight at Rushworth when the ball fell to him unmarked in the Swansea area in a first half where the Tigers lacked the nous to unlock the visitors’ defence.

Cullen could have doubled his tally in the second half only to shoot wide when well-placed.

Luke Williams felt his side deserved to take the win and also praised the work of assistant Alan Sheehan on set-pieces after Swansea claimed the winner from a well-worked corner routine.

Williams said: “I think the players deserved that, a fantastic performance and even more fantastic result.

“There are quite a few things, the openings that we made were very deliberate.

“I loved the work-of-art set-piece, and the players delivered on that and scored.

“When you watch Alan go to work on a set-piece and then see the players deliver on that it’s a privilege.

“We scored a goal away from home against a very good team and the back-line led us well, they kept us aggressive.”

Williams praised Cullen for the way he had come into the team in place of Jerry Yates to score the only goal.

“Liam has come in said ‘I need to do the same level of work that Jerry has done and take my chance’.

“We have lovely competition between these two players, it’s good to develop this kind of rivalry within the team.

“I really felt a strong positive energy in the changing room going into this game and we played like we believed.”

Swansea interim head coach Alan Sheehan was proud of his side after Liam Cullen’s last-gasp free-kick earned a 2-2 draw at Coventry.

Liam Walsh had put Swansea ahead in the seventh minute before they were pegged back by Haji Wright.

Ellis Simms then fired the Sky Blues in front before Cullen’s superb free-kick in the third minute of added time.

The point came after the Swans had been hammered 5-0 by former head coach Russell Martin and Southampton on Boxing Day.

Sheehan said: “We had to hang in there at times but how we finished the last 10-15 minutes I really liked and I think we deserved a point.

“They just kept on fighting and that’s the proudest thing I can say about them.

“We wanted a response, a lot of things have gone against us in the last couple of days in terms of the result, sickness running through the camp with a lot of lads up all night sick.

“The manner of the goals conceded is incredibly disappointing but for large amounts of the first half I saw a team that I really like watching.

“We just wanted a reaction, to draw a line under it, show how we get better, can we start building a structure? I thought for large amounts of the first half and as we went into the second you saw a real identity to what we wanted to do today.”

Swansea have been without a head coach since Michael Duff was sacked on December 4, as Sheehan took charge of his sixth match.

He added: “They’re looking for the right person. Different clubs do it different and they appoint straight away but there’s a lot of people interested in this job.

“I think it’s very important the club and board get the right person to drive this club forward.

“I’m enjoying it, it’s hard and a really difficult time in terms of travelling and time away from family, a lot of sacrifices but I believe our work has been meticulous and we at least deserved a point for that.”

Despite the last-gasp equaliser, which prevented Coventry from making it three straight wins, manager Mark Robins claimed that it was a point gained for the Sky Blues.

“You don’t gain anything until the final whistle, so we’ve gained a point,” said Robins.

“The goal was poor, the wall was not set quite right, there was too much of a gap there and he just played it through it.

“We’ve played pretty well, at times we’ve had some good moves, created good chances, took some really good chances and then just maybe a little bit more concentration sees us through.

“We didn’t have enough control in the game for the last five minutes or so, there were times in the game where we did and we started to get on top and we got our noses in front.

“We conceded the goal early on but the reply was really quick, a really incisive move and a really good finish from Haji.

“The second half was too open but then the changes that I made had an impact.

“We’re disappointed that we’ve conceded that goal. Firstly the free-kick in the first place and then letting them have the gap to hit the corner.

“It was a consequence of the weight of the pressure because we didn’t get hold of the ball in the front area which allowed them to keep picking it up and keep coming at us, so that’s frustrating.

“They’ve worked really hard, the third game in a really short space of time and we were a couple of minutes away from three points.”

Liam Cullen’s stoppage-time free-kick earned managerless Swansea a 2-2 draw at Coventry.

The Swans had earlier been ahead through Liam Walsh’s first goal in almost four years, before Haji Wright and Ellis Simms put Coventry 2-1 in front.

Swansea had been thrashed 5-0 by former head coach Russell Martin and Southampton on Boxing Day, but Cullen fired in a last-gasp set-piece to give his side a hard-fought point.

Former Coventry loanee Walsh put Swansea ahead in the seventh minute after he latched onto a poor touch from Jamie Allen and picked out the bottom corner, his first strike since scoring for the Sky Blues in January 2020.

It was just the ninth goal that Coventry had conceded at home this season.

They were ahead for just three minutes before Wright was played in by former Swansea loanee Kasey Palmer.

The American was confronted by Bashir Humphreys, but shifted the ball onto his left foot before arrowing his effort into the far corner beyond Carl Rushworth.

Palmer’s powerful effort was then tipped over by Rushworth in the Swansea goal before his free-kick cleared the crossbar.

Swansea had been without a permanent boss since December 4 and interim head coach Alan Sheehan handed a senior debut to 17-year-old Sam Palmer, who almost teed up Yannick Bolasie to put the Swans ahead but he could only lift over the bar with his outstretched right foot from close range.

Walsh also came close to putting Swansea ahead when he forced Brad Collins to palm away his free-kick.

Japan international Tatsuhiro Sakamoto scored a brace in Coventry’s 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day and saw his effort blocked on the line following a clever corner routine as Coventry looked to get their noses in front.

Simms had been introduced as a substitute and scored his first goal at home for Coventry to put the hosts ahead with 25 minutes remaining.

Callum O’Hare picked out Wright at the back post and his looping header looked goalbound before Simms poked in to net his first goal since September when the former Everton striker netted a brace against QPR at Loftus Road.

Cullen had also been introduced from the bench and stepped up in the third minute of added time to whip his free-kick into the bottom corner from the edge of the box, extending Swansea’s unbeaten run against the Sky Blues to 17 matches, dating back to 1981.

Michael Duff hailed Swansea’s “well earned” 1-0 win at Blackburn that gave them a first victory at Ewood Park in 52 years.

The Swans, who came into the game having suffered back-to-back defeats, ended their hoodoo through Liam Cullen’s fine 28th-minute curling strike, capping an outstanding month for the forward who won his first Welsh cap earlier in October.

Swansea had to show all sides of their character, creating chances when in the ascendency and digging in defensively at the start and end of the encounter when they were under severe pressure.

The win was particularly satisfying for former Burnley defender Duff, whose Swansea team have won five of their last seven games, and he was pleased with how his side responded to Blackburn’s start.

He said: “I think they started the game well. No getting away from that. The first five to 10 minutes they started really well, so we tweaked a couple of things in the press and I think for the next 50-55 minutes, we dominated the game.

“Thought we played out, played through them. Probably should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up at that point.

“We’ve had a goal disallowed which is offside, we’ve had another goal disallowed which is onside.

“Then, it’s human element. The lads are probably thinking the game should be out of sight now and it’s not, and they’re a good team.

“It was a case of trying to do the other side of the game well, whilst trying to pick them off on the counter attack.

“People put their bodies on their line, defended, made blocks when they had to. For all their opportunities, Carl (Rushworth) has not really made a brilliant save.

“It definitely wasn’t comfortable but it was a well-earned win in the end.”

Blackburn, who have lost three of their last four home league games, saw Callum Brittain and Harry Leonard miss glorious opportunities.

Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson said: “One of those days. We are of course extremely disappointed.

“We actually began the game really well and why we were not in front in first minute, we still don’t know it.

“I think we started really well, the first 20-25 minutes. After that, defensively there was a bit of distance in the team which was not good enough. We were sloppy sometimes on the ball.

“In the second half, I think we were the better team, creating plenty of chances and good moments to win the game.

“But (it was) one of those days when we are not scoring.

“We shouldn’t forget this young team have won three games on the bounce. There will be those days as well, we all know that. But of course, disappointed with the result.

“I think Swansea are really good at killing the game, killing the time as well. Every free-kick, every time the ball went out, it took ages. They did it really well and it’s difficult to get momentum.”

Bristol City fought back to register a deserved 2-1 Sky Bet Championship victory in the Swansea sunshine.

Liam Cullen’s first goal of the season gave Michael Duff hope that he would be celebrating his maiden league win as Swansea manager.

But Bristol City created a host of chances and had three goals disallowed before being ultimately rewarded by second-half strikes from Mark Sykes and Sam Bell.

Swansea had a frantic deadline day on Friday signing four players – Bashir Humphreys, Josh Tymon, Jamal Lowe and Kristian Pedersen.

But none of the quartet were available to take on opponents who gave a full debut to Taylor Gardner-Hickman following his loan from West Brom.

Sykes had the ball in the net early on but the Bristol City winger had strayed into an offside position.

Swansea struck after 10 minutes as Charlie Patino split the Robins’ defence with a delightful threaded pass and Cullen finished left-footed with some aplomb.

The goal failed to settle Swansea, who have won just once this season in the Carabao Cup, as Bristol City dominated first-half proceedings from that point.

Jason Knight curled over, Sykes had a shot blocked and Wells sidefooted straight at Carl Rushworth in the home goal after his exchange with Bell had cut Swansea open.

The Robins’ chances kept coming as Matt Grimes cleared Knight’s effort off the goal-line, Wells fired over from 20 yards after dispossessing Nathan Wood, and Bell’s goal celebrations were curtailed by an eagle-eyed assistant referee.

Patino skewed wide as Swansea enjoyed brief respite, but there was a controversial end to the first half as Naughton sliced down Wells with the striker en route to goal.

Ben Cabango was just about covering Naughton so referee Oliver Langford deemed the offence worthy of a yellow card rather than red.

Bristol City had the ball in the net for a third time from the resulting free-kick, but Knight was guilty of a push and the visitors’ growing frustration was evident as Kal Naismith was booked for dissent.

Duff changed the Swansea system at half-time and went from five to four at the back, but the Robins were level within three minutes.

Joe Williams pounced on a home mistake to find Sykes and he galloped clear before cutting inside Wood and burying his shot beyond Rushworth.

Cullen had an instant opportunity to restore Swansea’s lead but his shot lacked the accuracy to beat Max O’Leary.

Sykes turned provider for Bristol City’s 59th-minute lead, muscling his way through some half-hearted tackling to deliver a cross Bell converted ruthlessly at the far post.

Swansea were inches away from an equaliser when Cabango headed against a post, but that would have been rough justice on visitors who have taken eight points from their opening five games.