Bristol City Progressed To Round Four Of The FA Cup As Sam Bells Extra Time Goal

Sam Bell's extra-time goal gave Bristol City a 2:1 replay victory against Swansea City, advancing them to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Bristol City had the lead after Mark Sykes' goal, but Ollie Cooper's goal with his very first touch forced the extra 30 minutes.

Swansea had opportunities to win, but Bell, an academy product, dominated the night.The 20-year-old sprint from almost halfway to give his hometown club its first senior goal in history.

Bristol City's second straight victory thanks to Bell's intervention is a welcome improvement following a run of just one victory in 12 games across all competitions.

Swansea had only lost once in their previous four games - against Burnley, who led the Championship—but any dreams of a cup run were crushed when they failed to take advantage of their opportunities.

The Welsh club will be concentrating on a play-off drive for the remainder of the year, but the Robins may anticipate a home cup match against West Bromwich Albion later this month.

After dominating the first half, Swansea was left feeling disappointed that they had lost this match at Ashton Gate nine days earlier. However, Antoine Semenyo had rightfully cancelled out Joel Piroe's goal to force a rematch.

Nigel Pearson stuck with the Bristol City lineup that debuted in the league last weekend while Russell Martin made seven changes for a match he thought Swansea could have done without—and eventually won.

In an evenly matched first half where opportunities were scarce, it was difficult to determine which of the bosses had shifted their pack.

The only chance on goal came from Olivier Ntcham, a 20-yard drive that Max O'Leary stopped, although the Bristol City keeper reacted swiftly to stop an own goal when Zak Vyner cut toward his own goal.

Early in the second half, the ball ricocheted off Semenyo, giving the visitors their first opportunity, but the Ghanaian international slashed wide.

Swansea reacted, forcing O'Leary to make a leaping save before Piroe fired a shot in the face.

When Bristol City suddenly took the lead, the hosts were under real pressure for the first time. Joe Williams gained control and found fellow replacement Bell to score the goal.

He fed Sykes with a pass that was threaded through, and Sykes was able to get to the ball before Swansea goalkeeper Andy Fisher and score his third goal in as many games.

When Matt Grimes' cross reached the far post and Swansea equalised, the game suddenly began to open up. Cooper, who had only been on the field for a short while, was left with the easy chore of sidefooting the ball into the goal.

Swansea had two chances to score in extra time, but O'Leary saved Ryan Manning's volley and Luke Cundle's wayward header.

Bell's big moment finally arrived as he outran Ben Cabango with his quickness, cut inside, and sent a high shot into the goal.

Russell Martin, the head coach of Swansea City:

I'm simply incredibly disappointed that we didn't succeed. I feel like I've responded to you in a similar manner quite a bit. The last third is where we need more. They were very poor before they won.

"The performance truly thrilled me. We made seven substitutions, but the game didn't seem to alter since we were so in control.

"We needed to assert ourselves more." We concede a bad goal right in the centre of the field. They probably executed their game plan quite successfully, according to Nigel [Pearson].

"I'm really pleased of the players; they gave it their all and controlled for so long, but we need to do more of it because with the number of entries we had in the box, we only scored one goal," the coach said.

Bristol City's manager, Nigel Pearson:

"I'm glad we made it to the next round. We anticipated it to be a challenging game, and it was. Since we anticipated having to make adjustments throughout the game, we chose to play an unaltered side.

"It was a wonderful ending, a terrific goal to win it." All we wanted was for him to receive the chance.

"I believed that every replacement affected the game," They undoubtedly created a few opportunities, and Max [O'Leary] made a few wonderful stops, but we always believed we would have some chances; the question is whether you can seize them.

Truthfully, that was a great way to win the game.