Sam’s got Swansea sized up
.................. 0 BLACKBURN ............... 3
SAM SZMODICS waved goodbye to League One and hit the ground running on his return to the Championship as he set his new club on the road to a huge away win.
New Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson saw something he liked in the ex-peterborough forward and wrapped up his signature on a three-year deal for £1millionplus two days after he had begun his season with Posh in the third tier.
Five days later he hammered home the first goal of a comprehensive victory that carried Rovers to the top of the table as they backed up their 1-0 opening-day victory over QPR in superb style.
“It was a great start for him. Ryan Hedges did well to play him in but he had to be in that position to receive the ball,” said Tomasson.
“He is intense and clever without the ball and he is good at doing the right things at the right moment.”
Szmodics’ 39th-minute strike came after a mistake by Jay Fulton in losing the ball in his own half. Hedges took it on and the former Swan’s pass gave his new team-mate the chance to hammer home.
Hedges played in Ben Brereton Diaz for the second goal and then inspirational skipper Lewis Travis made it two goals in as many games as he raced 30 yards to drive the final nail in the home side’s coffin six minutes from time.
Swans boss Russell Martin said: “We have to take today on the chin. But we aren’t going to go to Blackpool next week and change what we are trying to do.”
SWANSEA: Fisher 6; Wood 5, Naughton 6, Darling 5; Latibeaudiere 5 (Sorinola (70)
5), Fulton 5 (Paterson (52) 6), Grimes 5, Manning 6; Piroe 6, Ntcham 5 (Congreve
77), Obafemi 6
BLACKBURN: Kaminski 6; Brittain 7, Ayala 6, Wharton 7, Pickering 6; Travis 7, Buckley 6 (Morton 89); Hedges 8 (Dolan 79), Szmodics 7 (Edun (58) 6), Brereton Diaz 8; Gallagher 6 (Vale 79)
STAR MAN: Ryan Hedges. Set up first two goals and was a constant menace with defensive work off the ball.
REF: S Martin