It may have been 24 years in the waiting but the Swans first home fixture at this level in that time was worth the wait

Twelve months ago Forest were again the visitors for the Swans first home game of the season and were almost buried under an avalanche of flowing football and only a superb display from Paul Smith kept the scoreline blank in that fixture.

Roll forward twelve months then and perhaps there was some irony in the fact that the first goal went in off the back of Smith after he was left flapping at a curling effort from Leon Britton that bounced back off the post.  

A typical summers day in Swansea - it was pissing down - was not enough though to dampen any spirits as the Swans secured a first Championship victory of the season with a display that announced their arrival at this level finally after the slow start at Charlton last week.

Next weekend the nation will get the chance to see first hand what the Swans can do and with displays like this one surely they would have to be impressed.

Jason Scotland - last season's top scorer was presented with his golden boot prior to kick off to go with his new contract announced this morning and he made his own hat-trick by being given his first league start of the campaign ahead of Guillem Bauza who had to make do with a place on the bench for this game.

Angel Rangel also had to make do with his place on the bench with Matty Collins holding onto the right berth spot after an impressive display at Charlton last week.

Dorus

Collins     Monk     Williams     Painter

Britton     Bodde     Pratley

Butler     Scotland     Gower

Subs: Rangel, Bauza, Gomez, Pintado, Serran

The Swans started well and were ahead inside seven minutes.  Good work between Gower and Scotland saw the striker slip in Britton who beat his defender and curled a shot beyond Smith.   Agonisingly it bounced back off the post but only onto the back of the keeper who was powerless to prevent it rolling over the line for the Swans first league goal of the season.

We were up and running and for twenty minutes we showed the kind of control that saw us walk the League One title last season.   Britton, Bodde and Pratley were in total dominance in midfield whilst Gower, Butler and Scotland were only too happy to be involved in the attacks whilst Collins and Painter added extra dimensions to the attack when they joined it.   Forest were struggling to cope with the Swans at this point and had Scotland or indeed Pratley been prepared to shoot when presented with the chance the lead could have been doubled.

Butler did his level best to try and double it when he met a Gower cross on the back post but his shot was saved by the feet of Smith whilst Ferrie headed just wide when a perfect chip from Scotland found his head as he arrived in the area.   The second had to be coming.

Or so we thought.   Ten minutes before half time Forest were presented with an undeserved equaliser when Dorus failed to deal effectively with a cross from their right and he could only palm the ball out to Perch who struck it gratefully into an empty net to give the low away crowd of just over 1000 something to shout about in a half that was pretty much one way traffic.

The half time message must surely have been more of the same as the Swans looked to capitalise on the domination they had got in the first half and after a scrappy first few minutes they slowly gained the upper hand again.   Forest were showing little threat up front with Earnshaw pretty much in the pocket of both Williams and Monk and despite a couple of alarming Dorus moments their best chance of the second half was a low shot well saved by the Swansea keeper.

Rangel replaced Collins with half hour to go and ten minutes later Pintado was in the action as a replacement for Scotland as Roberto looked to change things around.  And he got his reward when Butler jinxed into the box and was upended by the Forest defender giving the referee no alternative but to point to the penalty spot.   Up stepped Ferrie Bodde who saw his penalty saved by Smith but the rebound fell perfectly to the midfielder who slotted home into an empty net - the Swans were 2-1 to the good.

The penalty challenge signalled the end for Butler who was replaced by Gomez and as Forest tried - and failed - to push for an equaliser Swansea were getting much space up front.  And the third when it arrived was the best goal of the game by some distance.  Gower broke free - now playing on the left side - looked up, sent in an inviting cross which Pintado met with the perfect touch to find the corner of the net and wrap up the three points for the Swans.

A perfect end to a perfect day and the points tally is up and running.   With Plymouth away and Sheffield Wendesday at home to follow, the Swans can take much heart from this and know that they have what it takes to more than compete in the division and the message to Forest is you can spend as much as you want but we were better than you by some distance this afternoon.

And if this is what the Championship is all about in terms of the quality of the matches then bring on the next one.

Photo: Action Images

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