Stoke 3 Swansea 1: Wilfried Bony brace wins it for Mark Hughes' side

WILFRIED BONY chose the scariest night of the year to finally lay his 310-day goal drought to rest.

By Dave Armitage                                 

Stoke star Wilfried Bony scored two in the 3-1 Premier League win over Swansea

The former Swansea hero struck after just three minutes to hit the net for the first time since Boxing Day last year.

Stoke boss Mark Hughes had a hunch before the game that it could be two former players who gave Swansea a fright night

And so it proved when ex-Swan Joe Allen presented Bony with the perfect opportunity to get back on the goal trail.

The on-loan Manchester City man was given one on a plate by Allen and he didn’t need asking twice as he rifled the ball into the roof of the net from close range.

But Stoke weren’t in front long – Wayne Routledge getting the visitors level just six minutes later.

Swansea equalised through Wayne Routledge but it wasn't enough to stop a 3-1 defeat to Stoke

Bony’s early strike was only the start of things as the game got off to a blistering start.

Any impartial armchair viewer who had switched on in hope rather than anticipation was served up a real treat.

Stoke could well have been three goals up in not time at all and yet, astonishingly, found themselves pegged back when Routledge equalised with just nine minutes gone.

Routledge did well to wrestle Phil Bardsley away from him to get his head to Gylfi Sigurdsson’s cross and nodded the ball home from close range.

But that apart, it was largely Stoke who were left cursing their luck after striking the woodwork THREE times before the break.

Charlie Adam twice rattled the woodwork twice. The Scot beat keeper Lukasz Fabianski all ends up with a curling 20-yard left footer only to see it bounce away after rattling the upright.

Next up it was Marko Arnautovic who rounded Fabianski and looked certain to have scored before the ball thumped against the upright.

Adam repeated the trick as Swansea somehow escaped.

But Swansea certainly weren’t taking it lying down and caused their fair share of problems.

Stoke ace Ramadan Sobhi celebrates after Swansea defender Alfie Mawson scores an own-goal

In fact, they could easily have gone in a goal up at the break when it took a corking save from Lee Grant to deny Routledge a second.

The diminutive winger took the ball on the drop and hit a stinger of a half-volley towards the top corner only to see Grant acrobatically divert it away with one exceptionally strong hand.

Bony really should have had a second four minutes after the interval when he homed in on a clever cut back from Arnautovic but ended up blasting the ball way over.

But the home side were to get their reward minutes later when the unfortunate Mawson sliced the ball into his own net trying to hoof away a Ramadan shot which looked to be going across the face goal.

And it was game over when the £28m striker nodded in after 73 minutes after more good work from Allen.

dailystar.co.uk