Swans 1 West Ham 1

Bafe Gomis scored his third goal in two matches to earn Swansea a hard-fought point against West Ham at the Liberty Stadium.

Gomis met Gylfi Sigurdsson’s corner with a towering header in the second half after Andy Carroll opened the scoring in the first period.

Despite enjoying a bright start to proceedings, the hosts fell behind when Carroll curled home past Lukasz Fabianski before the break.

But, following the introductions of the lively Marvin Emnes and Modou Barrow, Garry Monk’s men found the equaliser when Gomis’ header deflected in off Mark Noble.

West Ham pressed to restore their lead, but Fabianski was on hand to deny both Stewart Downing and Aaron Cresswell from scoring a late winner.

The Swans made eight changes to the starting XI.

From the FA Cup win over Tranmere last weekend, only Nathan Dyer, Tom Carroll and Bafe Gomis – all scorers in the win at Prenton Park – were retained in Garry Monk’s plans.

Lukasz Fabianski returned in goal while the entire defence changed as Angel Rangel, Federico Fernandez, skipper Ashley Williams – who made his 300th appearance for the Swans – and Neil Taylor started.

Leon Britton and Gylfi Sigurdsson came back into midfield while Wayne Routledge got the nod on the wing.

The Swans were without the suspended Jonjo Shelvey while Ki Sung-Yueng and Wilfried Bony were away on international duty with South Korea and the Ivory Coast.

SWANS: Lukasz Fabianski, Angel Rangel, Federico Fernandez, Ashley Williams (capt), Neil Taylor, Leon Britton, Tom Carroll, Gylfi Sigurdsson (Nelson Oliveira, 74), Nathan Dyer (Marvin Emnes, 62), Wayne Routledge (Modou Barrow, 62), Bafe Gomis.

SUBS: Gerhard Tremmel, Dwight Tiendalli, Kyle Bartley, Jay Fulton.

WEST HAM: Adrian, Winston Reid, Aaron Cresswell, Kevin Nolan (capt) (Diego Poyet, 82), James Tomkins, Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Mark Noble, Carl Jenkinson, James Collins, Enner Valencia (Morgan Amalfitano, 70).

SUBS: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Joey O’Brien, Matt Jarvis, Ricardo Vaz Te, Carlton Cole.

The Swans began proceedings on the front foot and went close to opening the scoring inside four minutes when Bafe Gomis’ shot was deflected into the path of Nathan Dyer, before the wide man’s cross narrowly evaded the on-rushing French striker.

Midway through the first period, West Ham skipper Kevin Nolan curled a 20-yard shot just over the bar from Andy Carroll’s lay-off, before Neil Taylor tried his luck from distance following neat play by the Swans, only to see his effort drift over the bar.

But it took until the 37th minute for the game to see its first clear-cut chance when Angel Rangel released Dyer down the right. The flying winger then pulled back for Gylfi Sigurdsson, whose first-time strike from inside the box was hit straight at Hammers goalkeeper Adrian.

However, it was the visitors who took the lead, shortly before half-time, when Carroll controlled in the box before turning and curling past Lukasz Fabianski into the top corner.

Garry Monk’s men almost responded immediately as Wayne Routledge saw his first-time effort from eight yards blocked at point-blank range, before Gomis headed just wide from the resulting corner.

HALF-TIME: Swans 0 West Ham 1

Gylfi Sigurdsson almost put the Swans back on terms straight from the restart when his spectacular effort from 30 yards looked to have Adrian beaten, only to swerve just wide of the Spanish goalkeeper’s top right-hand corner.

Meanwhile, at the other end, James Collins went close to doubling the visitors’ advantage when he met Stewart Downing’s in-swinging corner with a towering header, which flew just wide of the target.

Following the introductions of Modou Barrow and Marvin Emnes – replacing Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge – the latter made an instant impact to dink a neat through ball for Gomis, who struck first-time over the bar from 12 yards.

But with just over 15 minutes left on the clock, the Swans finally found the elusive equaliser when Gomis found the back of the net with a towering header from Sigurdsson’s corner. The French international rose high in the box to level the scores.

Lukasz Fabianski was then called into action to prevent the visitors from restoring their lead when he tipped wide a swerving effort from Downing before parrying a fiercely struck shot from Carl Jenkinson.

But the Hammers continued to press for a winner as Taylor was forced to clear off the line from James Tomkins’ downwards header, before Carroll failed to convert from four yards after Fabianski was unable to gather Aaron Cresswell’s driven free-kick.

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