Garden Village XI 0-4 Swansea City XI

Match Report by Owain Johns

A Swansea City XI lead by Alan Curtis eased to a 4-0 victory over Garden Village at Stafford Common last night. The game was put beyond the Welsh League second division outfit within the opening 17 minutes after strikes from Chad Bond, Steven Evans and Matthew Roberts gave the Swans a comfortable 3-0 lead. Steve McNabney added a fourth on 32 minutes with a header.

Curtis included three trialists in his side, one of them midfielder Craig Tait, who came close to opening the scoring just 4 minutes in with a snap shot from 25-yards out.The deadlock was broken on 11 minutes, Steve McNabney’s low ball across the face of goal found Chad Bond who was at hand to tap the ball home. The two linked up well again three minutes later, Bond this time crossing over for McNabney who could only send his effort over the bar.

Two goals in the space of a minute came as a blow to Village, who had just started to settle themselves into the game. Steve Evans drove home on 16 minutes and a Matthew Roberts chip from the edge of the area a minute later made it 3-0. The match was put beyond Garden Village’s reach shortly before half-time when Steve McNabney headed home from a Luke Harrington free-kick at the back post.

The home side’s best chance of the half fell to Lee Rastatter on 24 minutes, who’s glancing header from a Craig Draper free-kick went inches wide of the post.

The scoreline could have been a lot higher in the second-half if not for Village ‘keeper Stuart Lloyd, who pulled off some cracking saves to keep the score at 4-0. The result a fair reflection of the match, against a Garden Village side who battled right until the end.

Garden Village: S.Lloyd, Williams, J.Evans, Wright, D.Evans, Romanello, M.Lloyd, Draper, Reed, Bowden, Rastatter.

Used Subs: Cann, Jenkins, Rimmer, Alfie, Thomas.

Swansea City: Harrison, Harrington, A.Griffiths, Surman, McDonald, Evans, Preece, Tait, McNabney, Bond, Roberts.

Used Subs: Guy, D.Griffiths, Thompson.