Football Jan 21, 2026

Swansea City 3-1 Blackburn Rovers: Zan Vipotnik double steers Swans to victory

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By Admin
Sports Journalist
Swansea City 3-1 Blackburn Rovers: Zan Vipotnik double steers Swans to victory

Zan Vipotnik's double helped Swansea to a 3-1 victory at the Swansea.com Stadium to pile more pressure on Blackburn manager Valerien Ismael.

Vipotnik made it 15 goals in all competitions this season, with 13 of those coming in the Sky Bet Championship.

But the Slovenian's goals - together with an own goal by Rovers' Connor O'Riordan - means it is just one win in 13 matches for Ismael.

The Frenchman has seen his team fail to win in six league games - seven including an FA Cup defeat - and they are above the relegation zone only on goal difference.

Swansea easily took control and might have gone ahead with their first opportunity, when a stinging drive from their Brazilian wing Ronald forced a good save from Balazs Toth.

The home side continued to press but had to wait until the 21st minute to get their reward through Vipotnik.

It was a giveaway effort, though, as Tom Atcheson's header from Ethan Galbraith's cross went straight to Vipotnik and the Slovenian was left with a straightforward volley.

It was Vipotnik's 14th goal of the season and he might have had another minutes later if his header from Josh Tyman's cross had been better directed.

It was all too easy for Swansea, but they became complacent instead of pressing hard to open daylight between the teams.

They were made to pay as Rovers grew in confidence on the counter-attack and when Galbraith lost possession, Brandon Powell got behind the defence and squared the ball for Mathias Jorgensen to slide in the equaliser in the 35th minute.

It might have got even better for Blackburn if Tyman had not produced a last-ditch tackle to deny Yuki Ohashi just before the break.

But within five minutes of the start of the second half, Blackburn conceded another soft goal to leave themselves trailing again.

Jisung Eom looked to have plenty of defenders between him and the goal on the left of the penalty area but his low cross somehow took two deflections off Blackburn players, the last of which struck Connor O'Riordan to fly past keeper Toth for a bizarre own goal.

Just past the hour mark, Swansea make it 3-1 with a second for Vipotnik.

Again, Blackburn were culpable as they failed to mark the striker at a corner which gave him all the space he needed to head home at the near post from Tymon's cross.

Blackburn had one chance to get back into things but Jorgensen fired wide from 12 yards.

Swansea's Vitor Matos:

"That is always a good sign when you have that [interest in Vipotnik].

"So, let's see what happens in the market. At the moment, we are focused on what we have in terms of the club, We don't need to think about the ifs, but what we need is to focus on what we need to improve.

"It's always about the market, about expectations of the player, about a lot of things that come into finding common ground, and then everyone can have the best decision.

"You are always open to the market and you never know what can happen."

Blackburn's Valerien Ismael:

"We need to get our players back, to fight with our best player, and then the picture looks completely different.

"We have 13 players who are injured. I can't change anything. So this is the problem.

"This is something we need to understand. We have to stick together, to stay calm, because we need the players to be able to come back.

"If the players were here, and we're playing with the best 11, and we are not getting results, then it's another discussion we will have. But this (the injuries) is a big problem.

"I think that for the game today, the three goals are avoidable.

"It's two set pieces, and the second one, especially, the clearance has to be much, much better. That's why we lost the game today."

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