Ten years at the Liberty: Closing in on play-off spot

To celebrate Swansea City's tenth season at the Liberty Stadium, we are looking back on the stand-out moments over the last decade.
Here, we feature a key fixture during the club's promotion push in the Championship.



Swansea City 3 Norwich City 0
Coca-Cola Championship
April 8, 2011

With just six league fixtures of a fascinating season left to play, the Swans found themselves right in amongst the promotion race when second-placed Norwich City came to town.
Four points and two places above the Swans, the Canaries had lost just two games from their previous 26 and represented a stern test for Brendan Rodgers' side.
But having already taken promotion rivals Leeds United and Nottingham Forest to task on home soil, Norwich were Swansea's next targets, knowing that only a win would do if they were to realistically keep their automatic promotion hopes alive.
In front of the Sky cameras on a sunny April evening, free-scoring Norwich were the first to threaten when Swans goalkeeper Dorus de Vries was forced into making a fine double-save after just four minutes, first to deny Dani Pacheco and then the burly striker Grant Holt.



Then, within a minute, Norwich were made to pay when Zak Whitbread hacked down Fabio Borini 30 yards from goal, and the Italian Under-21 picked himself up to sensationally send the resulting free-kick into the top left-hand corner for his third goal in as many games.
The opening goal seemed to settle the Swans, who began took control of the game through Joe Allen and Mark Gower in midfield, while the ever-willing Borini continued to cause problems for the visitors.
On the half-hour mark, the Swans celebrated their second goal through a sweetly struck half-volley from Gower.
Right-back Angel Rangel raced into the box before launching a shot at John Ruddy, who could only parry the Spaniard's effort. Norwich failed to clear their lines and the ball dropped invitingly for Gower on the egde of the box, who sent the ball flying past a helpless Ruddy.
And it could have easily been 3-0 to the hosts had it not been for the quick reactions of Ruddy to close down Borini, who had been released through on goal by Nathan Dyer at the end of the first period.
As expected, the second half saw Norwich come out all guns blazing and Holt should have reduced the deficit straight from the restart.



The Norwich hitman won a free-kick and was on the end of Pacheco's inviting delivery but somehow powered his header wide of the tarhey.
And then just before the hour mark, Andrew Crofts collected the ball on the edge of the box but drilled inches wide of the upright, before later hitting a tame shot straight at De Vries.
The Swans were made to withstand relentless pressure from the visitors but stood firm as de Vries repeated his first-half double save on 71 minutes when he pushed away two strikes from Korey Smith.
Swans substitute Tamas Priskin wasted one chance to put the game to bed by firing straight at Ruddy, but the on-loan Ipswich Town striker made amends by pouncing on a weak Whitbread backpass to beat Ruddy to the loose ball, leaving him with the simplest of tasks to roll the ball into an empty net.




Player profile
Mark Gower (2008-13)
As a schoolboy player, Mark Gower gained international recognition playing for the English schools side from the age of 14.
Upon leaving school, he joined his local side Tottenham Hotspur in 1996, where he was a member of the League Cup winning squad of the 1998-99 campaign.
But after finding his first-team opportunities limited at White Hart Lane, he made the decision to move on in an attempt to gain regular senior football.
Gower enjoyed a spell on loan at Motherwell before joining Barnet in 2001 for £32,500.
His two seasons at the club were a huge success, and his performances for The Bees alerted the interest of Southend United, who signed him at the beginning of the 2003 season.
It was during his time with Southend that Gower's career really took off. He spent five years at the club, scoring 35 goals in just over 200 appearances for the club.
But when his contract expired at the Essex-based club in 2008, Gower opted to sign for Swansea City.
He quickly became a regular name on the teamsheet during his time in SA1 and helped the club earn promotion to the Premier League.
Having made over 125 appearances for the club, Gower left the Swans in 2013 having earned plenty of admirers during his time in South Wales due to his all-action style of play.
He joined Charlton Athletic thereafter, but his one and only season with the Addicks was plagued by injuries, and in 2015, he joined non-league outfit Ebbsfleet United.