Twenty year old Morgan Whittaker sent a very loud message to his boss Russell Martin as he bagged an eleven minute hatrick against a vibrant Plymouth Argyle side at the Swansea.Com stadium last night. Argyle arrived in Swansea full of confidence after a very decent start to their League one campaign, and until Morgan and his one man show took the headlines looked like they could take the game to penalties.
Early dominance for the home side saw Swansea keeping the bell well and dominating possession in this second round league cup tie. Russell Martin recalled Ryan Bennett and Kyle Naughton as we reported earlier on in the day to his squad, and also included young Daniel Williams in his first eleven. It was Williams who scored his first Swansea City goal, the midfielder also twenty came out of the game as one of the players of the match in front of a very noisy Swansea support of nearly eight thousand.
On his teams concentration Martin said "We had a little spell for 15 minutes in the second half where we got a bit slow and sloppy, we did not take enough care and it led to their goal. So, I was frustrated with that, and I still am, but the way the guys then wrestled back control was excellent. However citing his ethos of ball retention he didn’t hang around in reinforcing his match day strategy reminding everyone how the swans scored three late goals. "The reason we ended up scoring three goals late on was because of the amount of work, and the amount of patience the guys showed leading up to that and for the majority of the game”
Dan Williams scores his first goal for Swansea City
"They had put a lot of work in to the Plymouth players, who had worked very hard and been diligent all night, but the game opened up because they could not keep up with that for 90 minutes. Summing up Russell Martin said "I am really pleased with the result and so much that we saw. "We were really dominant with the ball, I thought we were really patient and we passed with a lot of purpose. That’s the beauty of having the ball and dominating the ball. The opposition get very tired towards the end, and it opened up. Some of the goals were fantastic and, on another night, maybe we score a few more.”
Argyle boss Ryan Lowe was sympathetic towards his team after the game : "I thought we pit our wits against a very good Championship team who play the right way. For 80 minutes we were well in it. We probably should have come in winners or losers on penalties, but we gave the ball away in a sloppy area and there was an opportunity to end the counter attack, if you like, and we didn't. Then when someone is flying down the wing, they have got a bit of quality in the players they have got, they are always going to punish you, and that's what happened."
Transfer Update
Tomorrow afternoon the Swansea hierarchy including Mark Allen and Andy Scott will meet at the Swansea.Com stadium to discuss numerous matters including today’s outcome regards Matt Grimes situation at the club, and the potential signing of a striker. Speaking openly Martin stated that player recruitment will continue. "That'll be ongoing. It's a lot of conversation before anything happens because we are looking at players other clubs are interested in because they're good players, so that adds its own complications. Then you have to take everything else into account. We are working really hard at it and as I've said all along, we'll bring in people that really add to the group we've already got, on and off the pitch, and not just for the sake of it”
We hear that the swans are targeting five players with an expectation of at least two to come in, possibly three. Without doubt several players will leave on loan, and where at first Morgan Whittaker was indeed one of those players to leave surely tonight’s performance will ensure he stays with the swans. As it stands it is more than likely the striker being touted to other clubs will be Liam Cullen. Few swans fans will argue with that. Dan Williams performance against Plymouth will almost certainly guarantee him staying at Swansea City for the foreseeable future as well.
We are entering the exciting and frustrating phase of the season and from Sunday we will have an exclusive 24 hour transfer watch thread on this website covering all things things Swansea City. You will hear it here as the news comes in.
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Swansea City: Ben Hamer; Joel Latibeaudiere, Ryan Bennett (captain) (Kyle Naughton 67), Ryan Manning (Brandon Cooper 46); Kyle Joseph (Ethan Laird 77), Jay Fulton, Dan Williams, Jake Bidwell; Yan Dhanda; Jamal Lowe, Morgan Whittaker ** MOM
Unused Substitutes: Lewis Webb, Joel Piroe, Liam Cullen, Ollie Cooper.
Plymouth Argyle: Callum Burton, Macaulay Gillsephey, Dan Scarr, Ryan Broom, Joe Edwards (captain), Ryan Hardie (Rhys Shirley 58), Adam Randell, Ryan Law (George Cooper 70), Panutche Camara (Jordan Houghton 61), Luke Jephcott, Ollie Tomlinson.
Unused Substitutes: Michael Cooper, Brendan Galloway, Finley Craske, Ethan Mitchell.
Attendance: 7,951
Away 272
Referee: Robert Madley 7/10
Match Highlights
Russell Martin post match