Blackburn

Last Saturday Swansea lost 5-0 at QPR, a week after a home defeat by West Ham. Questions were being asked of Vitor Matos. In front of 16,867 at the Swansea.com Stadium, this was his answer, and Blackburn had no reply.

Matos left Zan Vipotnik and Adam Idah on the bench and gave Ross Stewart his first start up front. Twenty minutes in, Blackburn had yet to muster a shot. By then they were already behind.

Eleven minutes in, Joseph Opoku beat Harry Pickering on the outside and rolled the ball across the face of goal, and Stephen Eustaquio tapped into an empty net. It was his second goal since his summer move from Porto. Swansea were playing with tempo and sharpness, and Tony Mowbray's side looked timid. Todd Cantwell lashed over when it was still 1-0, but Pickering soon went off injured, Moussa Baradji was booked, and things got worse.

Three in 25 minutes

On 32 minutes Tom Atcheson cut out Stephen Welsh's through ball, only to tee up Opoku. He took a touch and rolled it beyond Balazs Toth into the bottom corner. It was his third goal since joining from Zulte Waregem in July, and his first since August.

Four minutes later it was three. Welsh's fine diagonal pass sent academy product Filip Lissah in behind, and his low shot was too powerful for Toth despite the goalkeeper getting a touch. It was Lissah's first Swansea goal in his 14th senior appearance.

Toth did keep out Melker Widell, and twice denied Eom Ji-Sung before half-time. At the break Swansea had had 12 shots to Blackburn's one, and the home fans were buzzing.

Stewart off the mark

Mowbray changed things at half-time, sending on Augustus Kargbo and Hayden Carter. Kargbo forced a save from Lawrence Vigouroux from a tight angle and drilled narrowly wide late on, but Rovers never really threatened a revival.

On 59 minutes Eom's clever free-kick sent Ross Stewart running into the area, and the Scotland striker unleashed a fierce left-foot drive that flashed inside Toth's near post. It was the goal of the day, and his first since arriving from Southampton in the summer. He was replaced by Vipotnik soon after.

From there Matos was thinking of Tuesday's trip to Portsmouth. Widell, Josh Tymon and Lissah were all taken off, and Eustaquio went off injured, replaced by Idah. Vipotnik went close twice late on and Opoku blazed over, but it stayed at four.

It matched the biggest win of the Matos era and brought a sixth clean sheet of the season. Swansea were a goal short of turning last week's 5-0 on its head. They'll take this, though.

What they said

Matos wanted a response to Loftus Road and said he got one.

A really good response I would say. A good game, more than the result itself was the way we did it. The way we played in the first half was really nice to see – the will, the desire, the concentration, the quality, the belief.

Vitor Matos, Swansea head coach (BBC Sport)

We got the response. We were not the worst team in the world last weekend. We are not the best team now but somehow we are improving and we will keep improving.

Vitor Matos, Swansea head coach (BBC Sport)

Mowbray had talked up a "free hit" beforehand. He was in no mood to hide behind it afterwards.

We got it wrong and suffered for it against a very good team. My frustration comes from preparing for a week to play the number one team in the league for high pressing and then not carrying out what we'd worked on.

Tony Mowbray, Blackburn boss (BBC Sport)

We shouldn't have been trying to play nice football around our box against a high-press team. Maybe my messages to the players weren't strong enough.

Tony Mowbray, Blackburn boss (BBC Sport)