CUP OF CHEERS AS WILLIAMS’ REIGN GETS OFF TO GOOD START
LUKE Williams kicked off his Swansea City reign with victory over Morecambe in the FA Cup third round. Charlie Patino’s goal just after halftime set the hosts on their way at the Swansea.com Stadium, before Jerry Yates sealed the victory by lashing home late on to put the Swans into the hat for the fourth round.
It’s been a whirlwind 48 hours for Williams, whose first game in charge arrived on the back of just one training session with this group of players.
His appointment also bringing the curtain down on a turbulent 32-day search that sparked much angst and unease in the ranks of the Jack Army.
This performance felt like a small but important step in the right direction, albeit against struggling League Two opposition.
Indeed, the overriding feeling from this performance was that it could well take a bit of time for this team to get to where Williams wants them to be.
In any case, and with all due respect to the Shrimps, this was never likely to be the sort of blockbuster first step into the new era that some may have preferred.
Williams had actually seen off Ged Brannan’s side 5-0 with his previous employers just eight days ago.
The goals weren’t quite so free flowing for his Swans side here, but a place in the fourth round nevertheless enables a little bit of bedding in before next weekend’s return to Championship action at Birmingham City.
Certainly there was little to really dent the almost universally positive pre-match mood here too much.
After a difficult and uncertain end to 2023, the sight of Williams pacing in the dugout in his spotless white trainers will be a comforting one.
That’s no slight against the work done by Alan Sheehan, who was well worth the praise from his new boss for the solid job he did during his seven games in interim charge.
But his caretaker stewardship, while yielding its high points, ultimately felt unsustainable in the long run.
Williams was introduced to the Jack Army ahead of kick-off here, having implemented 11 changes to the side that triumphed under Sheehan against West Bromwich Albion last weekend.
Azeem Abdulai, making his first start since the League Cup defeat to Bournemouth, might for a split-second have thought he’d given his side the lead after just seven minutes, but his drilled effort was deflected into the wrong side of the net by Jacob Bedeau.
The youngster, whose promising breakthrough was arguably one of the few positives of Michael Duff’s reign, had a similar effort blocked just three minutes later, before Patino forced goalkeeper Adam Smith into a fine save with a firm header from Yannick Bolasie’s dinked cross.
Swansea certainly delivered on Williams’ pledge to dominate possession. But despite seeing over 70 per cent of the ball, the Arsenal loanee’s effort was the only save Smith had to make during the opening half an hour.
Bolasie, who perhaps still feels he has something to prove in order to extend his stay beyond the end of the month, nearly changed that. The winger curling an effort that brushed the top of the net eight minutes later.
Plenty of positives in the build-up,
but a lack of bite up top. It was a frustratingly familiar narrative for the hosts.
However, Swansea steadied their nerves, and eased into a deserved lead just two minutes after the restart. A lovely run from Nathan Wood helped tee up Sam Parker, and his pinpoint far-post cross was met by the foot of Patino, who was on hand to poke an effort throught the legs of Smith for his fourth goal of the season.
Patino continues to be the subject of speculation linking him with a move to Serie A giants Juventus this month. Reports in Italy had even claimed Juve had sent scouts to this game to watch the 20-year-old, who nearly doubled his tally moments later, heading Abdulai’s cross just wide.
Swansea looked comfortable from that moment on, but would have to wait until two minutes from time to seal the game.
A poor header from Joel Senior inadvertently set up Yates on the edge of the area, and he made no mistake, drilling a low effort into the bottom corner to hand Williams a winning start on his return to SA1.
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REFEREE: Tom Nield