Swansea vs Sunderland match report: Jermain Defoe rubs salt in Swansea’s red-card wound with hat-trick

Swansea 2 Sunderland 4

Jermain Defoe celebrates his hat-trick (Getty Images)

Jermain Defoe’s superb hat-trick gave Sunderland’s hopes of beating the drop a huge boost and dragged 10-man Swansea into the relegation mire.

Defoe was a constant thorn in Swansea’s side and had put the visitors ahead early on, only for Swansea to equalise through Gylfi Sigurdsson’s penalty after referee Graham Scott, a late replacement for Andre Marriner in only his fourth Premier League game, incorrectly ruled André Ayew had been fouled.

Scott compounded that error by sending off Kyle Naughton for an innocuous challenge on Yann M’Vila, only for Ayew to immediately put the hosts in front.

But Patrick van Aanholt’s shot flew in off Federico Fernandez to level and Defoe showed all his predatory instincts to complete his hat-trick in fine style.

With so much at stake, there were always likely to be a few nerves around at kick-off time, and Swansea keeper Lukasz Fabianski’s got the better of him to gift Sunderland a third-minute lead.

The Poland international’s woeful clearance found only Adam Johnson, who quickly shifted the ball on to Fabio Borini. The Italian’s shot was not held by Fabianski, who pushed the ball straight to an offside-looking Defoe.

It was just the start interim manager Alan Curtis did not want and it kicked off a worrying opening quarter of an hour for the home side.

Ayew spooned a good chance over the bar from Wayne Routledge’s improvised pass, but the action was coming at the other end.

Johnson should have doubled the visitors’ lead in just the sixth minute. Patrick van Aanholt raced clear down the left but the winger somehow sidefooted miles wide, while his Dutch team-mate very nearly picked out Borini from another rapid Sunderland counter.

But their good start was undone in the 20th minute. Ayew beat Wes Brown and then appeared to kick the floor as he prepared to shoot, only for referee Graham Scott to point to the spot and Sigurdsson to convert.

It sparked a bright Swansea period only for Scott’s poor night to get even worse with his sending off of Naughton. The defender had his studs showing but clearly won the ball in his challenge on M’Vila, only for the official to pull out a red card to the horror of those in white shirts.

The game had barely restarted when the numerically disadvantaged hosts seized the lead. Fabianski’s long put downfield was chased down by Ayew, who turned Lee Cattermole inside out and fired across Vito Mannone into the net.

Swansea needed to make a solid start to the second half, instead Sunderland were level inside four minutes of the restart. Van Aanholt let fly a shot which was going wide until it struck Federico Fernandez and diverted in.

They then took the lead when a clever run from Defoe sprung the offside trap for the striker to coolly finish from Johnson’s pass.

The veteran forward then completed his treble with four minutes to play, sliding home Van Aanholt’s cross.