Blackburn 3-1 Swansea City: Rovers stun nine man Swans to reach the fifth round

Blackburn shocked Swansea City to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup as they eased past the nine-man Premier League outfit.

The Jacks saw Kyle Bartley and Gylfi Sigurdsson sent off as the Championship side secured a memorable 3-1 win on home soil.

Goals from Chris Taylor, Rudy Gestede and Craig Conway ensured their name was in the hat on Monday night.

Sigurdsson had given Swansea, who at that point were down to ten men, the lead, as he fired past Simon Eastwood to give the visitors a lead.

But this only lasted a matter of minutes as Taylor equalised for the hosts, and late on in the second half they took full advantage of their tiring opponents as Gestede and Conway struck late on secure the win.

Gary Bowyer’s men lined up without their star forwards Jordan Rhodes and Rudy Gestede but his decision seemed justified as the pace of Norwegian Joshua King caused the Swans all sorts of problems early on.

And the Norwegian was involved in the game's first flashpoint, the former Manchester United academy ace's speed proved too hot to handle for Kyle Bartley. The 23-year-old could only bundle his man to the ground to leave referee Craig Pawson with only one option, and the former Arsenal man was to be sent for an early bath just six minutes into the encounter.

But the ten-man Swans took the lead in spectacular style, Icelandic international Sigurdsson picked up Nathan Dyer’s ball 25 yards from goal before lashing his strike into the top corner.

The visitors' lead was to last just a minute though as the Championship outfit broke down the left, Marcus Olsson looped a cross for Tom Cairney to nod down and Chris Taylor swivelled and volleyed the ball past the flat-footed Lukasz Fabianski.

Bafetimbi Gomis had the first sniff of goal in the second half; the Frenchman collected the ball just outside the box before seeing his low drive expertly blocked.

With neither side wanting a replay, the game turned into a frantic end-to-end tie, and at the other end King continued to cause problems for the Premier League sides back four. He cut inside before producing a tame effort at goal which was easily claimed by the Polish shot-stopper.

Moments later, Cairney went even closer for the Rovers; he fired a left footed drive over the top as the Championship side began to make their man advantage count.

Swansea used their Premier League experience to reduce the hosts to shots from range, with Taylor and Olsson both blazing over from distance as Bowyer’s men continued to dominate proceedings.

Rovers looked to make their advantage count by bringing on top goalscorer Gestede as they looked to turn their chances into goals.

And it was the substitute who finally put the hosts into the lead, the French-born forward prodding the ball past Fabianski for his 13th goal of the season to give the Championship side a deserved lead.

The Swans looked to keep their FA cup dreams alive as they pushed forward for an equaliser to take the tie back to the Liberty Stadium, and January signing Nelson Oliveira drilled a shot straight down the throat of Simon Eastwood.

But their dreams soon faded and died, as Fabianski produced a howler, letting a shot from Craig Conway squirm through his clutches to seal the win for Bowyer’s men.

And it went from bad to worse for the visitors as goalscorer Sigurdsson saw a straight red for a late lunge on Taylor to ensure it was a forgettable day for Monk and his men.