Blackburn Rovers down nine-man Swansea City

Blackburn Rovers have booked their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup by beating nine-man Swansea City 3-1 at Ewood Park this afternoon.

The game was only six minutes old when Kyle Bartley hauled down Joshua King just outside the box and as the defender was the last man, he was shown a straight red card.

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Blackburn almost profited immediately from the resulting free kick, as Tom Cairney saw his effort beaten away by Lukasz Fabianski, before King turned the rebound wide.

Cairney threatened again for Rovers moments later with a curling effort from the edge of the box that was held by the keeper.

Despite the early pressure from the hosts, it was Swansea who took the lead when Gylfi Sigurdsson hammered a strike from long range into the corner.

Rovers were behind for less than two minutes, as Chris Taylor latched on to Cairney's knockdown, before turning and firing a strike past Fabianski.

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The teams went into the break level, but it was Rovers who began the second half on the front foot with Cariney bending a strike inches wide of the far post.

As the game entered the final 20 minutes, Matthew Kilgallon forced Fabianski into a save from his flicked header.

The hosts continued to look the more likely to score and with 12 minutes left substitute Gestede poked the ball into the net from close range after his initial header had been blocked.

With a minute left Craig Conway sealed Blackburn's place in the fifth round when his powerful drive from the edge of the box squirmed past Fabianksi at the keeper's near post.

There was still time for things to get even worse for Swansea, as in stoppage time Sigurdsson was shown a straight red card for a poor tackle on Taylor, to put the seal on a miserable day for the Welsh outfit.