Swansea 2 Vs 0 Walsall

Swansea City eased to a comfortable 2-0 win over Walsall in the first round of the Carling Cup.

Roberto Martinez made some changes to the Swansea line up that lost to Oldham on Saturday with Allen , Monk , Kevin Austin , Mayol , Craney, Anderson and O Leary all starting for Swansea City.

With rain lashing down on the Liberty Stadium pitch which gave it some added zip the game kicked off.

Neither side could put together any coherent play in the opening minutes of the game. In the initial passages of play Anderson and Painter were linking up well with Mayol always looking to get into good positions.

The Visitors secured the first real clear cut chance of the game when on form striker Mooney nearly capitalised on a mistake by Alan Tate saw Mooney in on Goal but a rather tame shot was easily saved to De Vries left hand side. De Vries had to be alert just minutes later when Daniel Fox put a ball into the box which Mooney latched onto but De Vries was equal too it.

Swansea started to pile on the pressure on the left flank with some good combination play with Anderson and Painter. It was in this good spell of play that Swansea broke the deadlock when Joe Allen burst into the area and past his marker and whipped a ball in with pace into the box.Anthony Gerrard cleared the initial ball but fell to Paul Anderson coolly volleyed it into the goal from 12 yards.

Swansea piled on the pressure using both flanks well but could not make it 2-0.With 28 mins gone Craney unleashed a shot after some fine build up play by Mayol but Anthony Gerrard blocked his shot.

Swansea City went into the break with a deserved 1-0 lead.

Paul Anderson was substituted at half time and was replaced by Andy Robinson. Walsall also made a half time substitution with Carlos Carneiro coming on for Alex Nicholls.

Walsall Started the second half brighter and surged ahead much to the delight of the 100 or so Saddlers fans. However it was Andy Robinson who had the clearest opportunity as he shot from 30 yards but sailed over the bar.Mayol also had his shot saved by Clayton Ince in the Walsall goal.

The Saddlers were unlucky not to equalise when a Danny Sooner corner was not dealt with resulting in a Mooney shot which was saved by the outstretched legs of De Vries.

On 63 minutes Leon Britton was substituted for Jason Scotland. Allen moved from the centre of midfeild onto the flank which removed the creative threat from the centre of the Swansea City midfield.

Darryl Duffy came on in the 72 min for Mayol. A few moments later Daniel Fox had an effort on the Swansea Goal in the 73rd minute but saw his effort sail over the bar.Swansea continued to press Walsall but could not create an opening which resulted in wasted efforts from Robinson and Duffy .

Alan Tate then picked up a needless Yellow card for time wasting.With the game into injury time Jason Scotland received a well weighted pass from Marcos Painter and unleashed a 18 yard right footed shot clear past Ince.The final score was 2-0.

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