Swansea City sent a warning message out to their promotion rivals this afternoon as they brushed aside a poor Leeds United side 3-0, thanks to Scott Sinclair netting a brace and Luke Moore grabbing a third.
The club broke their previous Liberty Stadium attendance record as 19,309 fans watched Brendan Rodgers’ side produce one of their most impressive performances of the season to record their 4th consecutive victory which keeps us in second place.
Just like they were against Doncaster the previous week, Swansea City were quick out of the starting blocks as Scott Sinclair scored his 20th goal of the season – created by a stunning attacking move that Barcelona would have been proud of. Scott Sinclair cut inside as he does so often, he wriggled is way towards the penalty area before the ball fell to Luke Moore, who backheeled it through to Sinclair to curl the ball into the corner. Stunning stuff from the home side and nothing more than we deserved after an excellent start.
Before the goal, Stephen Dobbie – back in that attacking central midfield role, went close to opening the scoring. Nathan Dyer created an opportunity for the Scot but his fierce low drive came back off the post after taking a very slight deflection. Dobbie was excellent once again playing just behind Moore. He linked up our attacking play really well and proved that he should always be starting games in that position at home.
Nathan Dyer, a strong contender for man of the match, was giving Leeds’ left back George McCartney an absolute nightmare as he had no idea how to limit his threat down the right flank. A bag of tricks and pace to burn, Dyer was causing problems for the opposition throughout the 90 minutes.
Swansea’s impressive passing was making Leeds United look a very average side to say the least, as Dorus de Vries was having a day off in the Swansea goal – until Somma finally threatened it. Set pieces are still proving to be a problem for our defence as the striker was able to win a header from Kilkenny’s free kick, but de Vries was equal to hit, getting his finger tips to the ball to touch it onto the bar.
Then the big talking point of the first half arrived just before the break. Snodgrass fired at goal and Alan Tate handled it as he attempted to block the shot. Somehow the linesman and referee failed to spot it and we could breathe a sigh of relief as the scores remained at 1-0 at half time.
Leeds had their best spell at the start of the second half as they looked to get more involved in the game, but it didn’t last long as we got a vital penalty 10 minutes after the restart. Dyer, causing problems once again, won the spot kick when he was brought down by Max Gradel following a needless and clumsy challenge on the winger. Scott Sinclair was full of confidence as he stepped up to cooly send Schmeichel the wrong way as he increased his goal tally for the season to 21.
Mark Gower then went close to adding a third from a free kick. He did well to bend the ball around the wall but a combination of a save and the post stopped the ball from going in.
We did get a third though as Luke Moore scored his second Swansea goal after excellent work from Stephen Dobbie and Nathan Dyer. Dobbie’s superb reverse through ball to Luke Moore put him one on one with the goalkeeper and he slotted the ball home to extend our lead.
Grayson’s side should have scored a consolation after Swansea’s offside trap failed – giving substitute Watt an opportunity to score, but de Vries did well to save his effort on goal.
In summary, it was an absolutely stunning display from the Swans – one of the best of the season and it sent out a big warning message to our promotion rivals as we sit in 2nd place, 1 point ahead of our arch rivals Cardiff City. Nathan Dyer was superb in his 100th Swansea City appearance, Stephen Dobbie was effective in the middle while Scott Sinclair delivered the goals, plus it was also encouraging to see Luke Moore score again.
With 4 wins on the bounce now, Swansea only look like winning their games at the Liberty Stadium now and the belief is there now that we really can achieve promotion to the Premier League – why not?
Swansea: Dorus de Vries; Angel Rangel, Alan Tate (C), Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor; Joe Allen, Mark Gower, Stephen Dobbie; Nathan Dyer, Scott Sinclair, Luke Moore.
Subs: Yves Ma-Kalambay (GK), Albert Serran, Jazz Richards, Cedric van der Gun, Leon Britton, Craig Beattie, Darren Pratley.
Leeds United: Kasper Schmeichel, Eric Lichaj, Andy O’Brien, Alex Bruce, George McCartney, Neil Kilkenny, Robert Snodgrass, Jonathan Howson (c), Max Gradel, Luciano Becchio, David Somma.
Subs: Shane Higgs, Billy Paynter, Ben Parker, Leigh Bromby, Ross McCormack, Sanchez Watt, Richard Naylor
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