Match report

Video clips

Listers' view - Andrew Thomas

On a dry night, John Hollins decided to give a few of the "squad members" a run out against League of Wales opposition alongside some more experienced players with first team experience.

The Swans quickly took control of the game, stringing together some good moves although due to some bad, and in some cases chronic finishing, were not rewarded with any early goals. Some players, especially in midfield were really running the show, most notably Richie Appleby and Lee Jenkins, with Cwmbran not creating many chances, and squandering the few that they had. Having said that, Cwmbran's centre forward did send a delicate chip inches over Jason Jones' crossbar after about twenty five minutes.

The main culprit for wasting seemingly gilt edged opportunities was Julian Alsop, who twice managed to miss from a couple of yards out, when it seemed easier to score, with one particularly woeful effort being blasted into touch by Alsop from 3 yards out just off the far goalpost.

The Swans almost constant pressure was finally rewarded just on the stroke of half time, when awarded a corner, which came over to the edge of the box, the shot was blocked, and when it ran free, Kristian O Leary fired home from about 8 yards.

In the second half, the Swans seemed to attack with a new sense of purpose, with Appleby a constant threat on the left side of midfield. After beating about 3 Cwmbran defenders, he danced into the box and scored with his right foot from 15 yards out.

Shortly after this, once again it was Appleby who beat a couple of defenders on the corner of the penalty area, before placing a low shot into the opposite corner of the goal to make it 3-0.

By now the Swans were totally dominating the game, especially down the left wing, and Appleby seemed keen to make it a hat trick. Although this was not to be, he did turn provider, when Alsop scored a hat trick in under 10 minutes, having got over his first half jitters in front of goal. The first seemed a little fortunate, with the ball appearing to go in off his shin from a couple of yards out.

His second was an excellent goal, following a great first time cross, once again from Appleby, which was met at the near post with a diving header, giving the goalkeeper no chance at all.

By now, Hollins decided to give some of the youngsters a run out, and brought on Barrie Morgan and Lee DeVulgt for Gareth Phillips and Jason Smith. This was shortly followed by the completion of Alsop's hat trick, once again, an Appleby cross was met on the edge of the box with a thundering header which left the goalkeeper despairing.

Shortly after this Cwmbran replaced their right back, who was having a nightmare against Appleby, although this helped them, it did seem to be a case of closing the stable door after the horse had bolted. A few minutes later, Hollins used the last of his substitutes, by bringing on Tony Bird for Julian Alsop who understandably received a big cheer from the supporters on the East terrace and Centre stand.

In injury time, the Swans really wrapped it up when Tony Bird rose to head a pinpoint centre past the goalkeeper, who by now must have had back ache from picking the ball up out of the net so many times.

In summary, it was a good evennings entertainment for the 717 people who turned up for the game, especially the second half, although it must be said that it was against quite poor opposition. Having said that, there have been plenty of times when we've failed to take our chances against lesser opposition.

PLAYER RATINGS:

Jason Jones- 6
Had almost nothing to do for the entire 90 minutes, although his kicking needs to be worked at.

Gareth Phillips-6
Under little pressure, and was eager to get forward

Ryan Casey-7
Little defensive work to go seemed quite effective going forward

Jason Smith-7
never lost a challenge all night, as dependable as ever.

Kristian O'Leary-7
Looked totally composed, and strong in the tackle. Good finish for his goal.

Michael Keegan-7
Another composed performance, and created all sorts of problems on the right of midfield

Damien Lacey-6
Did everything required, but also created little

Richie Appleby-9
Excellent game, 2 fantastic goals and a constant threat, it's just a shame he doesn't seem to do it in league games

Lee Jenkins-7
Dug in well in midfield, seemed to be more involved than usual.

Tommy Mutton-6
Ran well, some good touches and caused a few problems, but he really needs to build himself up.

Julian Alsop-9
A great second half, and 2 of his 3 goals were real scorchers

Alsop Makes History With Quickest Swans Treble - Western Mail report

STRIKER Julian Alsop carved his name into the history books with a hat-trick in four minutes - the fastest for the club - as Swansea romped home in their FAW Premier Cup-tie at the Vetch Field last night.

Two goals from Richie Appleby and two more from Kristian O’Leary and substitute Tony Bird completed an easy win as Swansea maintained their 100 per cent group record.

For Alsop the hat-trick ended his longest sequence without a goal. His last was against Rochdale on May 1.

But there was no hint of the second-half deluge as Swansea took virtually the entire first half to break stubborn Cwmbran resistance.

Goalkeeper Pat O’Hagan had already denied Michael Keegan and Appleby before palming an Alsop header on to the post.

But when the hard-pressed O’Hagan failed to hang on to a Lee Jenkins shot in stoppage time O’Leary followed up to force the ball home.

Five goals in the space of 17 minutes followed in a one-sided second half which belonged to the A team - Alsop and Appleby.

Three minutes after the interval Appleby darted through a startled defence on a typical zig-zagging run and from then on it was one-way traffic for a Swansea side showing 10 changes from the team which defeated Rochdale last week.

Appleby got his second when he curled in an angled shot from 20 yards and the midfielder went close to completing a hat-trick before Alsop had got in on the act.

Alsop began his treble assault on 62 minutes when he stabbed in a Ryan Casey cross at the far post.

Two headers completed Alsop’s hat-trick before the history-maker was replaced by Bird who also had time to get his name on the score-sheet.

Attendance: 717