Phil SumblerMorgan Gibbs-White scored on his league debut for the Swans to give us a win on the opening day of the season away at Preston and get the league campaign off to the perfect start.
Gibbs-White was on hand to tap home a great square ball from Jake Bidwell to get the only goal of the game eight minutes into the second half with the Swans doing very much to suppress any ambitions the home side had of starting the campaign with a win.
Connor Roberts, Ben Cabango and Marc Guehi were all added into a defence that looked so woeful at Newport last weekend and in truth, these – with Joe Rodon and Jake Bidwell – nullified any threat that Preston had with Freddie Woodman never really tested in the Swans goal as he started his season with a clean sheet on his return to league action for the Swans.
After a first half that was instantly forgettable thanks to both sides cancelling each other out the Swans started the second half brightly with Bidwell having a goal disallowed shortly before he provided the killer pass for the only goal of the game. As an outlet on the left hand side the wing back found himself very often in the position that he was needed to be in and you can certainly see some assists coming this season from balls into the box from Jake.
One of our other new signings Jamal Lowe looked continually dangerous before he was replaced with just over ten minutes left in the game whilst Andre Ayew was his usual busy self up front without ever really finding himself with a chance to add to the Swans lead.
In midfield captain Matt Grimes was putting in a strong performance alongside a few different midfield partners in Smith, Gibbs-White and Fulton, who replaced the goalscorer with just under half hour left.
The one thing we know traditionally about Preston is that they are a team that usually hover around the top half of the table more often than they don’t so a win there at any stage is a great result, to win there on the opening day of the season potentially says that we are already ahead of the curve in terms of points won?
In so much as we shouldn’t have got overly despondent last week we should not get carried away with this win. It was a very professional and effective performance from the Swans and just what was needed to open the league campaign but there needs to be – and probably is – more in the squad if we are to retain a position in and around the top six this season.
But let’s also not be negative as three points on the road should never be seen as a negative so a big well done to Cooper and his side, now let’s see us build on it at the Liberty next weekend.
