Report | Swansea City 3 Gillingham 1
Swansea City advanced to the second round of the Carabao Cup as goals from Ronald, Liam Cullen and Azeem Abdulai saw off Gillingham at the Swansea.com Stadium.
The Brazilian winger opened the scoring when he sent an unerring low strike into the bottom corner midway through the first half.
And – following a red card for Gillingham’s Euan Williams – Cullen doubled the lead when he turned in a Josh Key cross in the closing stages, before Oliver Hawkins got a late strike back for the visitors.
But Abdulai rounded things off for Swansea in stoppage time with his first goal for the club.
Victory books the Swans place in Wednesday’s draw for the next round, and got a first win of the season on the board.
Ronald’s energetic display on the left flank backed up his showing from the bench at Middlesbrough, while all four of Swansea’s summer signings to date got more game time under their belts with their new teammates, with Jisung Eom enjoying a particularly lively cameo.
Žan Vipotnik was handed his full Swansea City debut as head coach Luke Williams makes six changes from the weekend defeat to Middlesbrough.
The Slovenian led the line for the Swans, while Nathan Tjoe-A-On made his first senior appearance for the club.
Kristian Pedersen, Kyle Naughton, Ollie Cooper and Ronald also come into the starting line-up and the Swans started brightly.
Vipotnik was just unable to turn in at the far post after Ronald’s curling strike had evaded Gillingham keeper Glenn Morris.
Jay Fulton then forced Morris into a diving stop with a snapshot from the edge of the box, and then did well to palm Ronald’s stinging drive over his crossbar.
A beautiful reverse pass from Grimes then so nearly teed up Vipotnik, but the opener arrived in the 24th minute when Ronald surged into the area and swept a right-footed strike into the bottom corner.
Azeem Abdulai fizzed a dangerous cross in from the right that just had too much on it for the waiting white shirts, while Vipotnik looked to have beaten the offside trap only for the flag to be belatedly raised.
The Swans retained their lead at the break having had nigh on 80 per cent of possession and with Ronald causing all manner of problems.
Gillingham’s task did not get any easier when Euan Williams saw red less than six minutes after the restart for a poor late challenge on Naughton.
The game was being played almost exclusively in Gillingham’s defensive third and, with space at a premium, the hosts found it difficult to carve out clear chances.
A couple of purposeful runs from Cooper threatened to open up the defence and the Swans did extend their lead with 20 minutes to go.
Josh Key got into space down the right and his pinpoint cross was turned in by Cullen at the far post.
Eom looked set to add to their tally a few moments after his introduction from the bench, but he slipped as he bore down on goal from a clever angled ball over the top.
Eom then teed up Abdulai, but the midfielder sliced his attempted volley.
Hawkins trimmed the Swansea lead as he arrived to head home at the far post, but the hosts made sure of their place in the hat for round two when Eom again found Abdulai, who this time found the net with a low strike.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Kyle Naughton (Josh Key 67), Ben Cabango, Kristian Pedersen, Nathan Tjoe-A-On (Josh Tymon 66); Matt Grimes (captain), Jay Fulton, Azeem Abdulai; Ollie Cooper (Gonçalo Franco 73), Žan Vipotnik (Liam Cullen 67), Ronald (Jisung Eom 72).
Unused Substitutes: Nathan Broome, Harry Darling, Dan Watts, Josh Thomas.
Gillingham: Glenn Morris, Max Clark (Oliver Hawkins 46), Max Ehmer (captain), Jack Nolan (Aaron Rowe 46), Jonny Williams (George Lapslie 60), Jayden Clarke (Jacob Wakeling 78), Robbie McKenzie, Euan Williams, Shadrach Ogie, Joe Gbode (Marcus Wyllie 66), Alex Giles.
Unused Substitutes: Jake Turner.
Referee: David Rock
Attendance: 6,019