Swansea 2 v 0 Exeter

As expected Swansea included both their summer signings, midfielder Martin Thomas from Fulham and central defender Jason Smith, making his league debut at 23 in the absence of injured skipper Keith Walker.

New manager John Hollins went with a reshaped 4-4-2 formation with Richie Appleby and Jonathon Coates providing the width for strike partner Steve Watkin and Aidan Newhouse,

Exeter had three newcomers in their line up, Welsh international midfielder Jason Rees and defenders Graham Power and John Gittens.

Swansea went straight on the offensive in the shirt sleeved conditions with Jason Price and Appleby probing the right flank before Price drove a low cross behind the reach of his strikers.

Swansea, though a little nervous at times, kept up the momentum and when Newhouse turned a long ball into the path of Watkin the striker clipped the ball in behind only to run around and see one of the assistant referees flagging for offside.

Exeter, sticking rigidly to the three centre back formation which Swansea have now abandoned, built their attacks patiently without really threatening Roger Freestone in the Swansea goal.

However when Power threatened to race beyond the reach of Price, the long striding full back produced the prefect tackle to snuff out the danger.

As Exeter grew in confidence, Bound was forced into a hurried clearance from Flacks header after a long throw in had caused problems in the Swansea defence.

Both teams were really struggling to put any passing moves together that stretched the play any distance and the only goal scoring efforts seemed to come from set piece moves.

When Swansea won a free kick after Power had handled a Price cross, Coates curled in a superb free kick only for Bayes to get there first and punch clear as the Swansea players waited for the slightest mistake.

Exeter continued to keep things tight at the back, but when they did get forward they tried to stretch Swansea at every opportunity. Rees, however, seemed a trifle ambitious when he tried to chip Freestone from 25 yards, the ball dipping over the bar.

Price came to Swansea's rescue when a pass from Rees split the Swansea defence and Flack must have thought he was through before the full-back came across and whipped the ball off his toes.

When Swansea went back on the attack Bound went close by directing an Appleby free kick wide of the post.

But Exeter kept up the pressure, and after Freestone had tipped over a Flack header Rees drove wide of the far post.

Two minutes before the break Swansea suffered a blow when Newhouse, who had treatment earlier for an injured ankle, limped off to be replaced by Julian Allsop.

The arrival of the 6ft 4in striker could not have been timed better as he had a major hand in the opening goal from Martin Thomas which put Swansea ahead as the match headed into stoppage time.

It all stared when Allsop's flicked header fell kindly for Watkin who sent the ball wide before the overlapping Price drove in a low cross which Thomas volleyed in from six yards on his first Swansea appearance.

Half-time: Swansea City 1 Exeter 0

Swansea fans, clearly delighted by that late first half strike, had something more to celebrate when Swansea doubled their lead two minutes into the second half.

Swansea had already set their stall out when Allsop raced in from the right flank to met Cusack's through ball from the restart, but his shot lacked the power to trouble Bayes.

When Appleby repeated the move down the right flank in the next attack he was brought down by Power to concede a free kick. Appleby took it, planting it deep in the goalmouth where STEVE Watkin rose above a rather static defence to beat Bayes with a perfect downward header.

Exeter really only had themselves to blame. They had three centre backs in their line up and not one of them picked up the unmarked Watkin.

That second goal gave Swansea just the encouragement they needed to open up and start to play with much more confidence and fluency.

As Swansea poured forward in numbers, Rees was booked for a foul on Allsop and the same player was fortunate to escape even more server punishment when he brought down Appleby as Swansea tried to build something from the free kick.

Swansea thought about things a little more clearly when they were presented with the second free kick and Bayes was alert enough to smoother Appleby's teasing cross.

Rocked by that second Swansea strike Exeter to their credit did attempt to force their way back into the match, but with Bound and Smith keeping things tight in the middle Freestone was rarely troubled.

At the other end Bayes was far busier and was fortunate not to concede a third goal when he punched out a cross from Thomas which bounced just in front of Allsop whose header went over from 10 yards.