Vitor Matos proud as Swansea respond to QPR rout with victory over Blackburn

Press Association Sport Reporters

Vitor Matos applauded Swansea’s performance as they responded to last weekend’s hammering at QPR with a resounding 4-0 home win over Blackburn.

The reaction their Portuguese boss wanted from the 5-0 humbling at Loftus Road was delivered in spades by his players, who raced into a 3-0 interval lead with goals from Stephen Eustaquio, Joseph Opoku and Filip Lissah.

Scotland striker Ross Stewart then hammered home his first goal for the Swans on the hour mark to complete the rout.

It was a victory that enabled Swansea to stay in second place in the Championship as they inflicted the worst league defeat on Rovers since April 10, 2024, when they lost 5-0 at Bristol City.

“It was a really good response and it was a good game. It was the way we did it, especially in the first half, when we showed desire, concentration, quality and belief,” said Matos.

“So that was really good. We were not the worst team in the world last weekend, and we are not the best team now, but somehow we are improving and we will keep on improving.

“For me, it was really about the performance more than the result – that’s what I’m really pleased about and the way we did it. The first half was a good example of what we want.

“It’s not always easy to produce that type of performance, and it’s not always easy to play so consistently for such an amount of time. But that’s also what we will always try to find.”

So dominant were Swansea in the first half that Blackburn managed only one shot on goal, which was high and wide from skipper Todd Cantwell, while the hosts mustered three goals and 20 touches in the opposition box.

The first half was a forgettable one for Rovers boss Tony Mowbray, who made two changes at half-time to try and break Swansea’s stranglehold on possession.

It worked for 10 minutes before the home side carved out the opening for Stewart to add the fourth goal.

“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,” said Mowbray.

“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.

“We’ve been playing well and we thought we could play through and round them, but there were too many individual errors. We’ll just have to take it on the chin and move on.

“We’ve got two home games coming up this week and maybe we can take six points. We’re always striving for consistency.

“The best version of Blackburn Rovers might have come here and given them a good game, but we didn’t do that.”