Garry Monk, Darren Pratley, Cedric van Der Gun and Scott Sinclair all scored to give Swansea City a comfortable 4-0 win against Colchester in the FA Cup 3rd Round.
Brendan Rodgers made 5 changes to the side that lost 2-1 at Leicester City on Monday. Dorus De Vries was given a rest as Reserve goalkeeper Makalambay was given a rare chance to impress. Daniel Alfei came in for Angel Rangel at right back and the youngster did very well and earned the official man of the match award after a solid display.
Nathan Dyer was unavailable as he had flu so Cedric Van Der Gun replaced him on the right wing, while Luke Moore was given his debut up front after signing yesterday.
The game got off to a rather slow and uneventful start as Rodgers’ side struggled to create any openings in the opponent’s half for the opening 20 minutes.
Colchester United found it easier to break in the final third but they could only manage a long range shot which our goalkeeper saved comfortably. Makalambay then had a minor scare when he handled the ball on the edge of the box. Despite claims from the Colchester players that he handled outside the penalty area, thankfully the referee ignored them and allowed play to continue.
Most of the early play was played by the Swans in their own half and in the middle third but after finally creating our first decent opportunity – we got ourselves in front.
Mark Gower’s initial cross was cleared but after receiving the ball back, he picked out captain Garry Monk from the right flank and the defender as unmarked to head in from close range.
Shortly afterwards though, Monk was on the receiving end of a nasty contact with an opposing player and he looked rather hurt, clutching his knee and he limped off and was replaced by Albert Serran. Hopefully our skipper won’t be sidelined for too long. We also have Alan Tate returning after serving his final game in his 3-match suspension.
Serran went on a run forward after finding some space and he fired a low effort from long range but the goalkeeper had it covered.
Ten minutes after Monk’s opener, we doubled our lead and this time it was Darren Pratley to fire in from inside the penalty area. Alfei gave the ball to van der Gun, and the Dutch winger fed the ball to Pratley who hit a low shot first time into the net.
Swansea City barely got out of second gear in the first half to give themselves a 2-goal advantage at the break, as a lot of our play was in our own half, as the home fans began to get impatient with our lack of urgency to get the ball up the pitch.
Colchester United looked to make an early response in the second half as they created some decent chances quickly after the restart.
John White fired a shot just past the far post before Makalambay had to make a decent save with his feet to keep out Mooney’s effort down the left.
Swansea City fans had a chance to see new signing Luke Moore in action but the midfield were struggling to give him many chances in front of goal. He was often crowded out but he seems to have good strength to hold the ball up as well as good pace. He put them both to good use when we went on a decent un inside the box, brushing off a few defenders but the ball was finally cleared by the defence.
Scott Sinclair had a very quiet first half as we failed to stretch Colchester with our width, but the winger was a lot more involved in the second period and was able to go on some of his trademark forward runs. He got to the by-line a few times but crosses flew across goal without a fellow team-mate near them to convert.
Sinclair was involved in our both our next two goals as we rounded the game off with a deserved 4-0 scoreline. The former Chelsea player created the 3rd and scored the final 4th. He pulled the ball back from the by-line for van der Gun to net from close range, before he went on another run after a great pass from Allen, and curled the ball in to get on the scoresheet. Luke Moore was ready and waiting for a pass for a simple tap in but Sinclair curled the ball past the keeper and into the corner of the net.
Overall, not the most entertaining of 4-0 wins, and it wasn’t an excellent performance, but it was good to see a weakened side win very comfortably against mid-table League One opposition. We’ve experienced embarrassing defeats in the Cup in previous years but today there was no worries at all that this would be anything but a comfortable win to put us in the FA Cup 4th round.
The bad news from today was what looked like a serious knee injury to captain Garry Monk – lets hope he’s not sidelined for too long.
Swansea: Yves Makabu-Makalambay; Daniel Alfei, Garry Monk (C) (Albert Serran, 29′), Ashley Williams, Jazz Richards; Mark Gower (Kemy Agustien, 74′), Joe Allen,Darren Pratley; Cedric van der Gun, Scott Sinclair, Luke Moore (Jermaine Easter, 83′).
Subs: Dorus de Vries (GK), Casey Thomas, Stephen Dobbie, Craig Beattie.
Colchester: Ben Williams, Lee Beevers, Paul Reid, John White, Matt Heath, Andy Bond (Simon Hackney, 78′), Anthony Wordsworth, David Perkins, Kem Izzet (C) (Lloyd James, 55′), Ian Henderson (Kayode Odejayi, 55′), David Mooney.
Not Used: Mark Cousins (GK), Pat Baldwin, Steven Gillespie, Tom Bender.
Attendance: 7,005 Away: 199
Referee: R L Shoebridge (Derbyshire)
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