Report | Swansea City 3 Rio Ave 0
Goals from Jay Fulton, Kyle Naughton and Matt Grimes saw Swansea City round off their pre-season preparations with victory over Rio Ave at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Midfielder Fulton turned in a sharp cross to give the hosts the lead at the interval, before Naughton slammed home a second during the closing stages.
Skipper Grimes then rounded things off with a fine low strike after Josh Thomas had won the ball back high up the pitch for the Swans.
There was an eye-catching display from new signing Eom Ji Sung for those in attendance to enjoy and there signs of crisp attacking interplay from the Swans as they gear up for the Championship opener at Middlesbrough next weekend.
Lawrence Vigouroux, Eom and Goncalo Franco all made their first Swansea.com Stadium appearances as the Swans, with striker Zan Vipotnik watching on from the stands after joining in midweek.
The visitors made a nervy start, with Eom Ji Sung and Liam Cullen threatening to capitalise on some slack passing at the back.
Vigouroux was then brave on the ball as he deceived not one, but two defenders after receiving a Ben Cabango pass under pressure.
Amine Oudrhiri then nearly put the ball into his own net in the 15th minute as his pass back to Jhonatan caught the keeper out, but he managed to scramble to clear the ball away.
Harry Darling forced the stopper into a more conventional save with his strike from distance while, at the other end, Olinho came close to finding the far corner after breaking into the box from the left.
Nice build-up play involving Eom and Franco then threatened to cut open the visiting defence, but Josh Tymon overhit his final cross after straying offside.
But the Swans did then claim the opener as Fulton steered in Josh Key’s fizzing cross, with the keeper unable to prevent the Scot’s finish beating him at his near post.
The visitors had a decent spell after the goal, although without ever truly causing concern for Vigouroux in the Swansea goal.
However, they did create an opening just before half-which striker Clayton spurned as he fired over the bar only for the offside flag to be raised anyway.
The forward then forced Vigouroux into a sprawling save with a low strike from the edge of the area, and went on to hit the post a few minutes later.
Olinho was the next to miss for the Portuguese side, lofting an attempted chip over the bar after Vigouroux’s pass had been cut out.
At the other end Cabango could have doubled Swansea’s lead but headed an Eom delivery over the bar just before the hour mark.
A trialist then worked Jhonathan again after lovely trickery got him into the box, and Swansea did soon extend their advantage when a cross from the left wasn’t cleared and Naughton arrived to smash home from close range.
Substitute Thomas then pressed well to win the ball back and fed the ball to the trialist, who in turn found Grimes for the midfielder to feint away from a challenge and drill a low effort into the net.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key Kyle Naughton 65), Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Josh Tymon; Matt Grimes (captain), Jay Fulton, Goncalo Franco (Ollie Cooper 65); Azeem Abdulai, Liam Cullen (Josh Thomas 84), Eom Ji Sung (Trialist 65).
Unused Substitutes: Nathan Broome, Evan Watts, Kristian Pedersen, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Liam Smith, Dan Watts, Filip Lissah.
Rio Ave: Jhonatan (Cezary Miszta 83), Miguel Nobrega (Jonathan Panzo 83), Joao Novais (Brandon Aguilera 83), Clayton Silva (Karem Zoabi 63), Amine Oudrhiri (Vitor Gomes 83), Tiago Morais (Valentim Sousa 63) (Helder Sa 87), Marios Vrousai, Kiko Bondoso Joao Graca 63), Aderllan Santos (captain) (Julien Lomboto 86), Renato Pantalon, Olinho.
Unused Substitutes: Patrick William, Amine Rehmi, Brandon Aguilera, Joao Tome.
Referee: Tom Owen
Attendance: 5,439