Report | Swansea City 3 Preston North End 0
Swansea City opened their Championship account for the season as goals from Matt Grimes, Azeem Abdulai and Žan Vipotnik secured a deserved three points against Preston North End.
Skipper Grimes broke the deadlock from the penalty spot shortly before the interval, and Abdulai doubled the advantage when Ollie Cooper’s shot struck the midfielder to wrongfoot Freddie Woodman in the Preston goal.
Vipotnik then rounded things off as he finished from close range for his first Swansea goal, after Ronald had burst into the box to pick out a cross.
Swans boss Luke Williams had called on his players to build on their Carabao Cup win in midweek, and reproduce the dominance of that display on the Championship stage.
And they did that with an all-round team display where they had control with the ball and pressed relentlessly without it, continuing an excellent home record against Preston that has seen them win 11 of the last 12 games between the teams in SA1.
The Swans had shown six changes from the midweek win over Gillingham as Josh Key, Harry Darling, Josh Tymon, Gonçalo Franco, Jisung Eom and Liam Cullen came into the side.
Swansea made a lively start, Ronald working Freddie Woodman with a strike from distance after neatly lifting the ball over his marker.
Darling then nearly found Cullen with a fine long pass that just had too much on it for the striker.
Lawrence Vigouroux gathered a low drive from Emil Riis before the Swans immediately got back on the front foot with Tymon delivering from the byline for Eom to send a header back across goal and Franco to send an overhead kick over the bar.
The hosts kept pressing, Tymon surging into space to find Eom, who saw his shot blocked.
The hosts kept pressing, Tymon surging into space to find Eom, who saw his shot blocked.
It was Tymon’s turn to take aim next, roaming onto an inviting pass from Grimes before sending a tame low shot into Woodman’s gloves.
The visitors were content to sit off as the Swans probed for a breakthrough, but showed a threat on the break when Robbie Brady was denied by Vigouroux after the ball had been pinched high up the field.
But the hosts did take the lead five minutes before the break when Liam Lindsay raised an arm to appeal the ball had gone out of play and instead blocked Eom’s attempted cross with his outstretched limb. Captain Grimes made no mistake from the spot.
The Swans came within inches of a second soon after the resumption, Ronald sending an effort narrowly wide from a Grimes pass.
Eom then fizzed a rising effort over the bar following excellent build-up involving Key and Franco.
At the other end Key made a brilliant block as Hughes raced onto a loose ball in the area, with Preston having to start to commit numbers forward.
But the Swans doubled their lead on the hour when Cullen was slipped in down the left. His cutback was blocked, but the ball came back to the striker, who picked out Cooper for the midfielder’s shot to cannon in off Abdulai.
There was no let up, Cooper carrying an attack that ended with a Tymon cross being blocked, while Ronald continued to cause problems.
Grimes worked Woodman with a free-kick in the closing stages before substitute Vipotnik put the icing on the cake by finishing a well-worked team move.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key (Kyle Naughton 65), Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Josh Tymon (Nathan Tjoe-A-On 88); Matt Grimes (captain), Gonçalo Franco (Jay Fulton 65), Ollie Cooper; Jisung Eom (Azeem Abdulai 57), Liam Cullen (Žan Vipotnik 66), Ronald.
Unused Substitutes: Nathan Broome, Kristian Pedersen, Dan Watts, Josh Thomas.
Preston North End: Freddie Woodman, Ben Whiteman (captain), Liam Lindsay, Emil Riis (Milutin Osmajic 64), Mads Frokjaer (Duane Holmes 72), Robbie Brady (Sam Greenwood 64), Jordan Storey, Andrew Hughes, Ryan Ledson (Jeppe Okkels 64), Stefan Thordarson, Brad Potts.
Unused Substitutes: David Cornell, Jack Whatmough, Will Keane, Patrick Bauer, Kaine Kesler-Hayden.
Referee: Stephen Martin
Attendance: 14,037