Swansea City 4 Rushden & Diamonds 0

 

Diamonds crashed out of the LDV Trophy following a heavy defeat at League One high fliers Swansea City.

Two goals from Andy Robinson and one apiece from Garry Monk and Paul Conner gave the home side a comfortable victory.
Gary Mills made only his second competitive appearance since recovering from his injury nightmare while Dave Savage was rested to the bench with Rob Gier taking over the captain’s armband.

Diamond’s in there away kit of all blue were under pressure straight from the kick off when Conner’s header whistled over the bar from 8 yards.

Great play from Chris O’Grady gave Diamonds their first corner but while Phil Gulliver headed towards goal the ref pulled up Chris O’Grady for fouling the Swan’s keeper.

Back came Swansea who attacked through the middle allowing Conner to go one-on-one with John Ruddy but the on – loan keeper made a good save. Robinson then had a shot from all of 30 yards but the Diamonds keeper saved comfortably.
With ten minutes gone Swansea were dominating proceedings and showing why they were flying high in League One.
When Marcus Kelly won a ball 25 yards out he let fly with a good shot that went over the bar, without causing Brian Murphy any trouble.

Diamonds missed an excellent chance to take the lead when Alun Armstrong went one on one with the Swansea keeper but he was tackled as he looked to shoot.

Swansea took the lead on 20 minutes. Fantastic work from Marc Goodfellow allowed the midfielder to make space for a cross, which Robinson headed firmly past Ruddy.

Chris O’Grady playing on the wing seemed to be Diamonds best chance of a goal and the striker went on a run that saw his low cross saved.

Swansea continued to press and had a goal disallowed after great work by Robinson on the Swansea right. He played a one-two with Conner and finished off nicely but the Referee Assistant’s flag was raised, much to the disappointment on the home fans.

Rushden kicked off the second half with no changes to either side and just two minutes into the second half Gier needed to treatment. While the captain was off the field Mills gifted Marc Goodfellow a chance to cross but Conner spurned his chance from only 4 yards. Goodfellow then tried his luck from 35 yards, which whistled past Ruddy’s right hand post.
O’Grady had Diamonds best chance when he found space 5 yards in front of Murphy’s goal but his shot was well saved and the rebound was cleared.

Just 30 seconds later Gary Mills saw a fierce shot go past the left-hand post as Diamonds began to press the game and try and find the equalising goal.

On 64 minutes Connor went past Hawkins only to see his cross put behind by Gier. From the resulting corner, Robinson curled a delightful ball past Ruddy to give the Swans a two-goal lead.

Diamonds threw on Lee Tomlin for Armstrong and the youngster started well making ground to the penalty area before he was tackled on the edge of the 18 yard box.

On 72 minutes Jason Taylor replaced Chris O’Grady for Diamonds.

Two minutes later Swansea increased their lead after they won a free kick near the corner flag. Bedfordshire born Monk got to the ball first and headed Swansea into a 3 goal lead.

Tomlin went on another great run beating 3 Swansea players on 81 minutes and when the cross came in from the left Murphy had to be alert to the danger. Then Diamonds had two corners in as many minutes but they resulted in nothing.

Swansea won a free kick 20 yards from goal when Gulliver handled but Roberto Martinez struck his effort high over the bar and buried his head in his hands. Conner then showed great skill to take the ball past 3 Rushden players but his shot was well saved by young Ruddy in the away goal.

Unfortunately for Diamonds, Swansea made it 4 – 0 in the last minute when Conner collected a long ball, rounded Ruddy and hit the ball into an empty net.

Diamonds were out of the LDV Trophy and faced a long trip home from South Wales.

Teams:

 

Swansea City: Murphy, Fisken, Austin, Monk, MacDonald, Martinez, Robinson (Bond 82), O’Leary (Tudur Jones 76), Connor, Forbes, Goodfellow
Subs: Pritchard, Britton, Gueret

Rushden & Diamonds: Ruddy, Gulliver, Hawkins, Mills, Gier, Burgess, Dempster, McCafferty, O’Grady (Taylor 72), Armstrong (Tomlin 67), Kelly
Subs: Young, Savage, Kennedy.

Ref: A.Marriner
Diamonds MOM: Marcus Kelly – never stopped running
Attendance: 5321

 

Report by: Dave Cook