Lincoln 1-2 Swansea: Vitor Matos' Swans go top after comeback win

After an insipid first-half display, the Swans were able to turn the game on its head after the break and, barring a big win for West Brom over Wolves on Sunday, will head into the extended international break top of the pile.

They lead the division by two points, ahead of Middlesbrough, after ending the Imps' five-match unbeaten run, despite them leading at half-time through Reeco Hackett's penalty.

Swansea goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux was worked in only the second minute when he got down to save Hackett's low shot after his defence had struggled to clear a corner.

His opposite number, George Wickens, was almost caught unaware when Swansea midfielder Elijah Just attempted to lob him from 45 yards, but he got back to prevent the ball sailing over him.

Hackett then had another opportunity for the Imps when he battled his way into a shooting position, but his strike went into the side-netting.

Vigouroux was fortunate he did not present the home side with the lead in the 22nd minute when he pushed the ball straight to Hackett just outside the area, with the Chile international very relieved to catch the attacker's underhit lob.

Lincoln were then awarded a penalty in the 39th minute when Josh Tymon bundled into the back of Freddie Draper, and Hackett got the goal his first-half performance merited by confidently dispatching from 12 yards.

It was a lead the hosts deserved as they went into half-time, but having been subdued in the first 45 minutes, Swansea came out for the second half firing.

They were level within two minutes of the restart when Melker Widell worked his way to the byline down the right before pulling the ball back for Moussa Yeo to convert from close range.

The turnaround was rapidly completed in the 51st minute when Canada midfielder Eustaquio received the ball from Just before his shot from outside box took a big deflection beyond the helpless Wickens.

Having looked in control before the break, the Imps seemed to lack ideas as they looked to prevent a first league defeat in nearly a month.

The Swans, meanwhile, almost made the game safe when Widell bent an effort narrowly wide from just outside the area.

Widell then almost had a second assist of the afternoon when he moved the ball to the right for Ronald whose shot was beaten away by Wickens as the visitors' second-half resurgence earned all three points.

"We're delighted with the level of performance, especially first half.

"They've gone top of the league today, Swansea, so that's the level of opponent and we made it incredibly uncomfortable for them in the first half.

"We completely dominated the half, loads of volume around their goal and quality from our lads.

"We deserved to score at least one, maybe more, but we got a little warning just before half-time of what they're capable of around our goal, and unfortunately we've had five or six minutes where it was just a little bit too much and they were too sharp for us.

"The second goal is unfortunate - it takes a big deflection and we can't do much about it - but the first goal we'll review and reflect it.

"We'll be annoyed we've not dealt with it better, but the boys in this early part of the season have been incredible."

"It's a nice feeling, of course, but we need to stay grounded as we know there are a lot of games and there is a lot still to compete for.

"We have an international break now, so we will not feel the effect of this game on the next game because it is so far away.

"It is important now to rest the players who will stay with us, keep improving them, keep feeding them in terms of the quality of the [training] sessions, then we're probably going to have the players [back from international duty] the day before Norwich.

"This is a really hard place to come. We knew we had to be really spot-on, in terms of organisation.

"Towards the end of the first half, we were starting to impose much more of ourselves and much more of the game we needed to play.

"Half-time was important for us to refresh and to think how we get momentum back."

What the result means and next fixtures...