FA Cup third round Swansea City 4 Colchester Utd 0

COLCHESTER United were comfortably beaten by high-flying Championship side Swansea City in the FA Cup third round this afternoon.

The League One visitors held their own at the Liberty Stadium in the opening exchanges of this tie.

A 25th minute headed goal from defender Garry Monk got Brendan Rodgers’ side going though and, with the U’s picked apart by the home side’s renowned passing game, a second soon followed when energetic midfielder Darren Pratley finished off a fine move 10 minutes before the break.

Pass-masters Swansea dominated possession after the break and completed a comfortable victory with goals from direct-running widemen Cedric van der Gun and Scott Sinclair in the 68th and 82nd minutes respectively.

U’s boss John Ward made two changes to his side following their 4-2 defeat at Leyton Orient on Monday. Midfielders Kemi Izzet and David Perkins returned from illness and suspension respectively to replace Ashley Vincent – rested due to a foot injury – and Lloyd James,

Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers made five changes to his Championship promotion chasing side following their 2-1 defeat at Leicester at the beginning of the week, with striker Luke Moore handed his debut just a day after his arrival from West Brom.

With a reduced crowd at the Liberty Stadium the atmosphere took a while to get going early on. And in a quiet start to the match the closest either side came was Andy Bond’s tame long-range effort straight at keeper Yves Ma-kalambay.

Swansea broke the deadlock in the 25th minute with their first real attack of note though, with the U’s largely the creators of their own downfall as skipper Kemi Izzet dallied on the ball after a corner was half-cleared. That ultimately allowed Mark Gower to swing in a cross from the right for an unmarked Monk to head home from close range.

Swansea moved up a gear after that and, despite losing captain and goalscorer Monk to an injury soon after the opener, they were able to double their lead after 35 minutes.

Again it came down the right-hand side as this time winger Van der Gun ran directly with the ball before pulling it back for the tireless Pratley to finish.

The U’s created a couple of half-chances after the restart as John White fired over from long-range and David Mooney poked an Anthony Wordsworth through-ball at the keeper, but Swansea continued to look comfortable.

As a result, Colchester boss Ward made a double substitution just 10 minutes into the second half – bringing on Kayode Odejayi and Lloyd James for Ian Henderson and Izzet.

The changes did little to alter the flow of the game though and Swansea increased their lead in the 68th minute. The third goal was a virtual caron copy of the second, this time Sinclair running directly into the box before cutting the ball back for van der Gun to finish.

With the game lost, U’s boss Ward experimented with his team ahead of Friday’s crucial League One match against Bournemouth by trying Wordsworth in a central role and giving Simon Hackney a run out off the bench.

Swansea showed just why they are in the hunt for promotion to the Premier League though with a fourth goal eight minutes from time when Sinclair cut inside to score following a visionary through-ball from Joe Allen.

SWANSEA CITY (4-3-3): Ma-kalamby; Alfei, Richards, Monk (cpt) (Serran 29), Williams; Allen, Gower (Agustien 74), Pratley; Gun, Sinclair, Moore (Easter 83).

Unused Subs: de Vries, Thomas, Dobbie, Beattie.

Booked: Pratley (22).

COLCHESTER UTD (4-3-3): Williams; White, Beevers, Reid, Heath; Izzet (cpt) (James 55), Bond (Hackney 78), Perkins; Henderson (Odejayi 55), Wordsworth, Mooney.

Unused Subs: Cousins, Baldwin, Bender, Gillespie.

Booked: Izzet (52).

U’s Man-of-the-Match: Anthony Wordsworth

Attendance: 7,005

Referee: Mr Rob Shoebridge (Derbyshire)