Swansea City 3 Preston North End 0 – Comfortable for Swans but questions will be asked

On the pitch it was a comfortable afternoon for the Swans this afternoon as they secured a first league win of the season with a 3-0 win over Preston but off the pitch the warning signs will be strong behind the scenes not just for the remaining weeks of the transfer window but the fact that the fans were missing in abundance this afternoon.

A first half penalty from captain Matt Grimes was added to in the second half by goals from Azeem Abdulai and Zan Vipotnik as the disappointment of last week’s defeat at Middlesbrough was put behind us with some ease against a Preston side that looked every inch a side who are destined for a long struggle this season.

Criticism though of the quality of the opposition should not take away the positives that the Swans can draw from this game which started with a bright fifteen minutes and could easily have ended with a far more comprehensive scoreline such was our domination that was reflected in the fact that Vigouroux did not have a save of note to make within our goal.

The Swans lined up maybe predictably with Fulton dropping to the bench alongside Abdulai with Ronald and Ollie Cooper coming into the starting line up.  It meant a home league debut for both Eom and Franco alongside Vigoroux with Vipotnik, the other siging of the summer, on the bench although his part was to come later on.

The empty seats around the Swansea.com Stadium at kick off were a telling story for how the fans are feeling right now.   The first home game of a league season traditionally will see a higher than average crowd but with an official attendance given at around 14k, it would certainly be a case that there was maybe no more than 12/12.5k fans in the ground – an early statistic that will have alarm bells ringing both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Those fans that were there were treated to a bright opening first fifteen minutes of the game though with the Swans pressing to get an early goal but, despite some early attempts at goal, none of them were really good enough to trouble Freddie Woodman in the opposition goal although he was called into action twice during that early period.   The bright start though soon fizzled out as the football became pedestrian and defensive and the game was being played in a middle third where Preston seemed comfortable to see us contained and we seemed unable to break out of to create attacking positions.

It was though in one of those periods that we took the lead with one of the softest penalties you are ever likely to see.   A break down the right saw Eom almost play the ball when out of play but as he crossed it the defender blocked the ball with both hands in the air.   The only decision that needed to be taken was from the linesman with the only thing likely to save Preston was him calling the ball out of play.  He didn’t and, after a brief discussion, the penalty was awarded to many protests from the visiting defence.   A minute of two of protests later and it was Matt Grimes who stepped up and put his penalty the opposite way to the keeper to give the Swans the lead.   With five minutes of the half remaining, the timing could not have been better.

The second half started with the Swans seemingly happy to be on the back foot and you wondered if we were there to defend our one goal lead.   Preston were looking more dangerous on the attack and can consider themselves unlucky not to have dragged themselves onto level terms when a powerful shot from inside the area was deflected over the bar by a despairing dive from Josh Key.

Abdulai was introduced to the fold as a replacement for Eom and within two minutes he had doubled the Swans advantage.   There can probably be claimed to be a touch of good fortune about it as he deflected in Ollie Cooper’s shot from ten yards out but it was a fortunate deflection as it took it away from the movement of Woodman and the Swans were in a better position and 2-0 to the good.

Both sides responded to the changing of the scoreline with a triple change – Fulton, Naughton and Vipotnik coming on for the Swans at the expense of Franco, Key and Cullen but the game was pretty much over at this stage with Preston never in a position really to force their way back into it.  Indeed, much of any danger they had up front was coming on the break as the Swans pushed forward looking for more goals to add to their tally.

With seven minutes left they got their addition as Vipotnik tucked away Ronald’s cross to make the scoreline as comprehensive as I think the Swans deserved and to send the crowd, as disappointing as it was, home happy bar the few hundred Preston fans that will head back to Lancashire knowing they were comprehensively beaten.

The remainder of the game passed without any real incident of note although the Swans could have had another goal to add to their tally but 3-0 for a first home league game of the season is more than acceptable.

We now have an eight day break before the arrival of Cardiff next Sunday – a Cardiff side that will come here bottom of the league after their 5-0 thrashing by Burnley this afternoon.  Before then though it is absolutely essential to see us active in the transfer market.  All four of our summer signings to date offered something this afternoon which is more than you can say for some of their counterparts from twelve months ago but it is clear that more incomings are required to add depth to the squad and stop our over reliance on average Championship players which we still have in too many positions.

There were enough signs today to take positives from the game but as the headline suggests there are enough questions to be answered at the same time.   The main part though was the 3-0 win and the 3 points that it delivers, now we can focus on off the pitch activities for a few days and send a reminder to Andy Coleman that matchday experiences are built on performances on the pitch and they are delivered by active transfer activity.

MATCH FACTS AND LINE UPS

OTHER CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

LATEST TABLE

NEXT UP FOR THE SWANS