After the snooze fest that was last season scoring four has been somewhat of a distant memory back to the Martinez era and in truth it could have been more as the Swans simply outclassed Preston in pretty much every department even if they did have to rely on a couple of top quality De Vries saves to keep the visitors scoreline blank.
Goals from Stephen Dobbie, Darren Pratley, Nathan Dyer and David Cotterill told the tale behind the scoreline but led by new signing Scott Sinclair the Swans passed the ball about with supreme confidence and looked dangerous every time they attacked Preston.
The only disappointment of the day was that just 14010 turned up to watch the game which was played in the main in what has become increasingly unusual South Wales sunshine.
Brendan picked his first side in the league at home to look as follows
De Vries
Rangel Monk Williams Tate
Dyer Gower Pratley Cotterill Sinclair
Dobbie
And while the team line up above read 4-5-1 it was the flexible 4-5-1 that we know works with plenty of support for Dobbie from the wide men and the midfield meaning he was rarely a lone striker on the day.
Before the game there was the perfectly observed minutes silence for those close to the club that we lost during the summer with the words Besian 40 clearly visible from the West Stand as the East paid their own tribute thanks to the hard work of a group of fans,
Swansea had already come close through Sinclair and Dobbie before Preston launched their first attack and for five minutes the Swans found themselves on the back foot as the defence hesitated and the visitors looked to capitalise. But it was a rare moment of worry on an afternoon when the Swans were in control.
Dobnbie struck the first in the 23rd minute with a well placed shot from the edge of the area that left the Preston keeper flat footed with no chance of a save.
That lifted the Swans and the football was free flowing as they looked to double their advantage. To do that they had to wait until five minutes before the interval when Pratley converted following a knock down from a corner. After the discussions this week – very publically – about his contract the togetherness within the team was obvious as everyone took their turn to congratulate him on the goal.
Three minutes later the game was as good as over as Dyer converted Dobbie's cross across goal and slid the ball into the empty net to remind the fans exactly what football is all about – goals.
Cotterill completed the scoring ten minutes into the second half when he sent the keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot after Dyer was felled by Davidson and the Swans had struck four in a game for the first time in two years. Or as one put it – the first time we had scored four at home since that golden period between November and February last season…
Possession was all Swansea now (61% total in the match) and Preston were almost on damage limitation as the Swans looked constantly to add to their four goal tally although they were interrupted by the saves mentioned above.
All in all it was a perfect start in the league for the new manager and confidence should now be high in the squad as they look to press on in the league starting at Norwich next weekend.
A very good day at the office.
This article first appeared on JACKARMY.net.