FAW: Wrexham 1 Swansea 2

Swansea City retained the FAW Premier Cup with another 2-1 victory over Wrexham, this time at the Racecourse Ground.

Rory Fallon scored his first goal for the Swans since his £300,000 move in January and hopefully there’ll be a lot more to come from the New Zealander.

Kenny Jackett named a strong side for this evening’s tie, making just 2 changes to the side that lost at Gillingham last Saturday.

Owain Tudur-Jones played his first game in over 3 months and after being out for so long, maybe it was the wrong decision to throw him into the starting line-up, after just a week’s training.

Forbes was back on the bench then in place of the youngster and Fallon was given a starting place ahead of Bayo as the former Swindon frontman is cup tied for Sunday’s Football League Trophy final.

It was a game of two very different halves as we dominated the game early on, with a lot of play being played in Wrexham’s half.

Andy Robinson was involved a lot in our attacking play as well as Leon Britton, both were playing in a more attacking role while full backs Alan Tate and Sam Ricketts were supplying good support down the flanks.

The goalkeepers weren’t called into any action for most of the first 45 minutes, most attempts were going harmlessly over the bar.

Keith Lowe went close with a left foot shot from 18 yards but his attempt curled wide and over the post.

The two players impressing for the Dragons were youngsters Matt Derbyshire and Matt Jones and they linked up well for their first goal opportuntity but Derbyshire’s shot from outside the area went wide.

With the possession and dominance we had we really needed to get a goal and that’s what happened straight after Derbyshire’s chance. Robinson made a great through ball to Britton just inside the penalty area, his low cross was met by Danny Williams, who slid in to defend the ball but he ended up sending the ball into his own net.

We then made it before the end of the half. Trundle received the ball deep inside the penalty area, a good place to put in a cross to the unmarked Rory Fallon but instead, he shot hard from an acute angle. Ingham in goal could only parry and the ball sat nicely for Fallon as the ball bobbled into the net.

His goal brought a huge sigh of relief as he finally ends his long goal drought with the Swans and you could see what it meant to himself, the fans and the players.

The second half was completely different from the first though as Wrexham attacked more and were keeping possession for longer periods. Manager, Denis Smith commented on the fact his side looked tired in the first half as they sat back and gave us plenty of room to play.

As we’ve on far too many occasions, we sat back and invited pressure, allowing the opposition to get back into a game that should have been put beyond any doubt early after the restart.

Willy Gueret was called into action, doing well to save from a close range header that resulted in a corner.

Wrexham fought back and got a goal from a long throw-in that wasn’t dealt with by the defence. The ball fell to Spender near the penalty spot on 79 minutes and he volleyed the ball low into the bottom right corner.

At the other end, Trundle and Fallon had chances to put us 3-1 in front. Fallon shot wide from an excellent position while Trundle spent too long in the penalty box and he was then unable to get a good shot at goal.

The crowd got behind the home side but we managed to hang on for the remaining 11 minutes to retain the FAW Premier Cup. We now look ahead to getting a second cup in 5 days as we play Carlisle on Sunday in the Football League Trophy Final.

Wrexham: Michael Ingham, Shaun Pejic, Danny Williams, Dennis Lawrence, Dean Bennett, Andy Holt, Mark Jones, Darren Ferguson, Matt Crowell, Sam Williams, Matt Derbyshire.

Subs: Michael Jones, Simon Spender, Mike Williams, Levi Mackin, Jon Walters.

Swansea: Willy Gueret, Alan Tate, Sam Ricketts, Kristian O'Leary, Leon Britton, Lee Trundle, Garry Monk, Andy Robinson, Owain Tudur Jones, Keith Lowe, Rory Fallon.

Subs: Roberto Martinez, Adebayo Akinfenwa, Adrian Forbes, Tom Williams, Leon Knight.

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