Swindon Town

TOWN rounded off their home pre-season fixture schedule with a 3-0 defeat to Swansea City.
 
After a goal-less first half, the Premier League side notched three times after the break to register a win.
 
Luke Williams named another strong line-up against the Swans with the only change coming in midfield where Tom Smith replaced Conor Thomas who dropped out of the matchday squad altogether.
 
Despite the visitors’ early attempts to assert their dominance on the game, it was Town who enjoyed the better of the chances. John Goddard latched onto Jon Obika’s flick-on before sending a thumping volley towards goal that Gerhard Tremmel had to turn around the post.
 
Obika then had two chances of his own after cutting in off the right flank, forcing a save from Tremmel with one effort before firing off target with the other.
 
Meanwhile, Nathan Dyer curled wide for the Swans and Mike Van der Hoorn nodded a cross wide of goal.
 
The best chance of the first forty-five fell to the hosts but they were denied the opening goal by some superb goalkeeping from Tremmel. A corner was cleared to the edge of the box where Rapha Rossi-Branco connected with a thunderous effort. The shot took a deflection on its way through and the Swansea goalkeeper reacted superbly to paw away the effort. As the loose ball dropped to Goddard, Tremmel made another smart stop to deny the former Woking man and keep the scores level.
 
The visitors’ Oliver McBurnie side-footed over before the half was over.
 
Despite having the better chances in the first half, Town fell behind early in the second half with a quick-fire double from the Swans. Firstly, Andre Ayew drilled home into the corner from Modou Barrow’s cut-back. Barrow turned provider again five minutes later, chipping a ball into the near post area where Jay Fulton met it with a header and flicked it into the far corner to double the visitors’ lead.
 
As the clock ticked over the hour mark, Swindon went close to pulling a goal back. After a sublime piece of skill to maintain possession, Yaser Kasim’s intricately-weighted pass for Jermaine Hylton picked out the striker’s run and his first-time shot cannoned back off the inside of the upright.
 
With twenty minutes to play, the Welsh side added a third. Having assisted the first two goals, Barrow got his name on the scoresheet with a composed finish one-on-one with Vigouroux after a wonderful long pass from Jefferson that travelled some 50 yards before reaching Barrow on the run.