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| Bafetimbi Gomis scored his 4th goal in 4 matches this season |
BAFETIMBI GOMIS scored the winner to give Swansea a 2-1 victory over Manchester United as Wayne Rooney endured another dry day in the Premier League.
The England captain had enjoyed his own treble on Wednesday and it had been hoped a Champions League hat-trick would drown out all talk of his failure to hit the back of the net in the league.
But as Garry Monk celebrated his third win in a row as a manager against Louis Van Gaal, Rooney extended his longest league drought to 14 hours and 24 minutes since he last scored against Aston Villa in April.
Blitzing a defensively inept Bruges side was never going to be a guarantee of ending his Premier League drought against a much better-organised Swansea, although Rooney undoubtedly had his chances in the first half.
A superb pass by Luke Shaw gave him his first sight after 20 minutes, but as with a toe-poke on the end of Chris Smalling's header into the box 10 minutes later, the England striker was woefully off target.
When he did have the accuracy, with a flick of his right foot just before the break, he lacked the power, making for an easy save by Lukasz Fabianski.
Although United enjoyed the majority of the first-half possession, the Swans looked altogether more dangerous, particularly in a five-minute spell midway through the half when United looked all over the place.
Bafetimbi Gomis served initial warning with a burst through the inside right channel to fire a shot across goal that flew narrowly wide, and his clever flick set up Gylfi Sigurdsson from a free-kick two minutes later only for the Iceland international's effort to meet the same fate.
Sergio Romero's poor clearance moments later led to an immediate return of fire from Jonjo Shelvey, turning in a strong performance in anticipation of an England call-up, but the United goalkeeper redeemed himself with a simple save.
The unnecessary danger did little to help the confidence of the United defence though, and Daley Blind was almost immediately embarrassed by a sharp turn by Gomis, who produced his best effort at goal yet with a shot that clipped the far post.
The stalemate lasted just three minutes into the second half, and arrived courtesy of poor Swansea defending.
Andre Ayew missed the initial tackle on Luke Shaw and when the full-back burst into the penalty area to cross, Ashley Williams was half-asleep on his heels and allowed Juan Mata to tap in for his first goal of the season.
The Swansea skipper's day could have got worse almost immediately when he did react to a Depay cross on the very next attack only to squirt the ball towards his own goal and Williams was grateful for a full-length Fabianski save to spare his blushes.
But then it was turning into one of those afternoons for captains. Ordinarily, Rooney's sloppy lay-off deep in Swansea territory should not have mattered, but Williams strode powerfully forward, found Sigurdsson in too much space on the right and his cross was met by Ayew's downward header and the game was level again.
And if Rooney needed a reminder of how to finish, Gomis provided it just five minutes later when he ran through onto Ayew's beautifully judged pass to squeeze his shot low between Romero and the near post.
Van Gaal rang the changes in a bid to find a way back, ultimately bringing Marouane Fellaini on to work in front of Rooney in the hope of a goal.
Rooney still had one more moment of misery to come, though. Two minutes from the end he appeared to have cut through the Swansea defence and, in a different run of form, would surely have scored. But Williams got his challenge in as Rooney dithered, looking desperately to the officials for a penalty.
A cursory shake of the head from Martin Atkinson ensured everybody got precisely what they deserved from the game.
SWANSEA (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 6; Naughton 6, Fernandez 7, Williams 6, Taylor 6; Cork 6, Shelvey 7 (Bartley 89); Routledge 6 (Yeung 58, 5), Sigurdsson 7, Ayew 8; Gomis 7 (Eder 81). Booked: Routledge. Goals: Ayew 61, Gomis 66.
MAN UTD (4-2-3-1): Romero 5; Darmian 6, Smalling 7, Blind 6, Shaw 7; Schneiderlin 5 (Carrick 70, 5), Schweinsteiger 6; Mata 6 (Young 70, 5), Herrera 5 (Fellaini 76, 5), Depay 6; Rooney 5. Booked: Schneiderlin, Depay. Goal: Mata 48.
NEXT UP: Liverpool (h) Sept12, PL.
REFEREE: M Atkinson.
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