CARABAO CUP FIRST ROUND    
Tuesday August 8th, 7.30pm
Swansea.Com Stadium

SWANSEA CITY 3
Joel Piroe 10, 53
Josh Ginnelly 90

Attendance: 6,923 (number of Cobblers fans not confirmed)

Swansea: Carl Rushworth, Harry Darling, Joe Allen (sub Jay Fulton 62), Matt Grimes (sub Jamie Paterson 62), Joel Piroe (sub Josh Ginnelly 62), Liam Cullen, Nathan Wood, Kyle Naughton (sub Mykola Kuharevich 81) , Harrison Ashby (sub Josh Key 62), Ollie Cooper, Azeem Abdulai
Subs not used: Andy Fisher, Jerry Yates, Brandon Cooper, Filip Lissah
 
Cobblers: Max Thompson, Aaron McGowan, Max Dyche, Sam Sherring (sub Akin Odimayo 62), Manny Monthe, Ali Koiki (sub Patrick Brough 62), Will Hondermarck, Marc Leonard (sub Peter Abimbola 71), Mitch Pinnock (sub Jack Sowerby 62), Louis Appere, Kieron Bowie (sub Sam Hoskins 62)
Subs not used: Jacob Scott, James Dadge

Booked:
Swansea: none
Cobblers: Mitch Pinnock (57)

Sent off:
Swansea: none
Cobblers: none

Northampton Town made the long midweek trip to take on Swansea City at the Swansea.Com Stadium in the first round of the Carabao Cup. Jon Brady made seven changes to the side that faced Stevenage on the opening day of the season as he continued to manage the return to fitness of several players, while there was a full debut in goal for recent signing Max Thompson. The Swans, who named a very strong side, were skippered by former Cobblers loanee Matt Grimes while another former Cobbler, keeper Andy Fisher, was on the bench for the home side.

The hosts went close early with Ollie Cooper seeing an effort deflected narrowly wide in the second minute, but they had the lead in the tenth minute, Joel Piroe tucking home from close range as he met a low cross from the left.

Kieron Bowie was close to an equaliser four minutes later, picking up on a loose pass and driving just wide of the far post from a tight angle. Bowie was involved again ten minutes later, holding off his man well before arrowing a drive just wide of the target.

Joe Allen fired over for the Swans from the edge of the area following a half cleared corner on 26 minutes, while as we entered one minute of additional time at the end of the first half, Liam Cullen curled a shot in to the side netting as the Swans took a one goal lead in to the break.

Swansea threatened three minutes in to the second half, but a combination of Thompson and Max Dyche did enough to force Cooper to send the ball just wide of the post. Aaron McGowan came to the Cobblers rescue shortly afterwards with an excellent goal-line clearance to keep the score at one-nil.

The lead was doubled on fifty three minutes though, the home side scoring a second from close range, a low cross deflected on to Joel Piroe who chested the ball home for his second goal of the evening. Thompson then saved well from Nathan Wood as the Welsh side looked to extend their advantage further.

As the game went beyond the hour mark, both sides made four changes with Sam Hoskins, Patrick Brough, Jack Sowerby and Akin Odimayo the players introduced for the Cobblers.

Louis Appere led a 67th minute charge from which Sam Hoskins forced a close range block from keeper Carl Rushworth, while last season’s top scorer then curled over the bar from the edge of the area. The Cobblers final change then saw Peter Abimbola replace Marc Leonard with twenty minutes to play.

Both sides pressed and probed in the final twenty minutes and there was still time for the Swans to add a third, a spectacular long range strike from Josh Ginnelly in added time as the home side progressed through to round two of the competition.

SWANSEA MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)     
SHOTS ON TARGET: (5) 9
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (7) 10
CORNERS: (7) 9          
FOULS: (3) 8        
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (3) 5

COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)      
SHOTS ON TARGET: (0) 1
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (2) 3  
CORNERS: (0) 0
FOULS: (2) 5
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 1