Zan Vipotnik header hands Swansea City first away win of Vitor Matos era

Zan Vipotnik's first-half header was enough to see off Oxford United and hand Swansea City their first away win under Vitor Matos.

The Slovenian nodded home from a superb Josh Tymon cross early on in a contest where chances were otherwise largely at a premium for both sides.

The result is Swansea's first success on the road since September, and ensures a positive end to what's been a mixed 2025.

The Swans are now seven points clear of both the U's and the Championship trapdoor, a gap that will perhaps offer some confidence that Matos can perhaps start to look up, rather than down over the coming weeks.

Swansea had only beaten their hosts a few weeks ago at the Swansea.com Stadium, in what was an important opening victory of the Matos era.

There was a new face in the Oxford dugout this time around, however, with Craig Short taking interim charge in the wake of Gary Rowett's recent sacking.

And after Tyler Goodrham and Luke Harris had both had early efforts blocked, Swansea started to settle nicely into this contest, taking a well deserved lead after just 13 minutes.

Tymon, whose stunning volley lit up the last meeting between these two sides earlier this month, was once again heavily involved.

Oxford failed to adequately clear their lines following Eom Jisung's freekick, allowing Ethan Galbraith to feed Tymon, who then produced a sublime cross that found the head of Vipotnik with laser-like precision.

The Swans number nine then duly applied a comparatively simple header for his 12th goal of the season.

Swansea looked to be firmly in control from that moment on.

A tame low effort apiece from Stanley Mills and Brian De Keersmaeker was as close as the hosts came to troubling Lawrence Vigouroux in the Swans goal before the break.

But