Planet Swans ArchivesColin Addison put out a full strength side for the quarter final with Chris Todd in for Neil Sharp as the only change to the side that lined up against Oxford last Saturday.
Freestone
T Evans O’Leary Mumford Todd Howard
Coates Cusack Lacey
Williams Watkin
The first 20 odd minutes passed with Swansea having plenty of possession but neither side managing shots on goal as the play centered mainly around the midfield area.
However, after the first quarter had disappeared, Swansea clearly stepped up a gear and stretched Newport more and created chances.
Kristian O’Leary was the first to have a shot on goal as he drove a 30 yard free kick at goal in the 23rd minute which was pushed round the post for a corner after a foul by Billy Clark on Steve Watkin.
Three minutes later a good ball from Cusack found Howard free on the left hand side of the area but his cross was disappointing and sailed out for a goal kick. Newport’s only chance of the first half fell to former Cardiff City player Jeff Eckhardt who hit a long shot well wide of the Swansea goal.
Eckhardt was involved again just three minutes later when a Coates cross was blatantly handballed by the Newport defender but the referee waved away Swansea protests, claiming that he did not see the incident. Must have had his eyes shut then as everybody else did.
But Swansea weren’t to wait long for their opening goal and after two more close efforts from Williams and Coates, Watkin was felled in the penalty area and stepped up himself to put Swansea into a deserved lead in the 38th minute.
Five minutes later and Swansea doubled their lead as Watkin played Williams clear in on goal and he calmly slotted past the keeper to push Swansea into a comfortable first half lead.
Newport to their credit started the second half the stronger team and forced Swansea into some defending as they looked to pull a goal back. In the 54th minute it looked as if they would pull it back as Martin Paul found himself clean through on Roger’s goal and despite Roger seemingly committed to diving one way, he stuck out a hand and saved Paul’s shot and Swansea cleared the loose ball.
Billy Clark then had two headers in quick succession on target, the first cleared by Mike Howard on the line and the second well saved by Roger and Swansea seemed to have weathered the Newport storm.
The remainder of the second half seemed to pass without major incident bar a third Swansea goal when Watkin played Coates into a one on one situation and he calmly placed the ball into the bottom left hand corner to give Swansea an unbeatable lead.
Colin Addison took the comofrt of replacing Williams and Coates with Casey and Phillips and a comfortable win was complete.
This was a professional Swansea performance and one that will boost confidence. It is nice to see a strong squad playing in this competiton, although it still seems a little Mickey Mouse it has a nice pot of gold at the end of it. Just hope Petty doesn’t decide he may like to stay around until we are knocked out!
