Lightning strikes twice for Swansea

Lightning struck twice for Swansea City AFC against FC Kuban Krasnodar in Russia, as they were just two minutes from ensuring qualification for the next round before being thwarted by Ibrahima Baldé again.

Wilfried Bony's early goal settled the Swans' nerves and for most of the match that looked as if it would be enough to see them through, the hosts unable to exert sustained pressure on Michel Vorm's goal despite creating several chances. But deep into stoppage time, Baldé – who won the last-gasp penalty that earned Kuban a point on matchday three – reacted quickest to deny Swansea an away victory.

The team from Wales took the lead after nine minutes, Bony composing himself to finish coolly after a cutback from Roland Lamah and a touch in front of the Ivorian by Alejandro Pozuelo. On the balance of play for the rest of the first half, there looked unlikely to be more than a goal in it, the home side creating marginally more chances but rarely troubling Vorm in the Swansea goal.

Although the Toads came out positively for the second half, they were just as wasteful with the chances they created, with striker Djibril Cissé the most frequent offender. Kuban's task became all the more difficult when Xandão was shown a second yellow card, but, with the stadium emptying two minutes into added time, Baldé ran onto a through pass by Ivelin Popov and bravely lobbed the ball past the despairing Vorm to level.