Courtney Baker-Richardson, Connor Roberts and Jay Fulton score for Swansea
Saturday 29 September 2018 18:56, UK
Courtney Baker-Richardson's first senior Swansea goal and strikes from Connor Roberts and Jay Fulton gave Graham Potter's side a 3-0 victory against QPR.
The Welsh outfit had waited 291 minutes to find the back of the net after a poor run in front of goal, but Baker-Richardson put them ahead and Roberts made the game safe after the break.
QPR offered little as an attacking threat in a poor team display and substitute Fulton made it a deserved and comfortable success for the home side with a third goal late on.
Swansea started with midfielder Matt Grimes as a makeshift left back and Baker-Richardson led the line with Oli McBurnie supporting from a deeper role.
QPR included Angel Rangel - who spent 11 years and played 374 games for Swansea before leaving this summer - in defence.
Grimes fouled Ebere Eze early on and QPR had the game's first chance when Massimo Luongo curled a low effort into the side netting of Erwin Mulder's goal.
The visitors had looked the more dangerous, but it was Swansea who took the lead in the 16th minute. Kyle Naughton's cross to the far post was headed down by McBurnie and Baker-Richardson did the rest by smashing the ball home.
Baker-Richardson should have had a second just minutes later. Roberts' deflected cross found the 22-year-old but he spooned over the bar from just a yard out despite seeing an open goal in front of him.
After falling behind, QPR saw captain Luongo and Jake Bidwell booked in quick succession and Luke Freeman tested Mulder, but there was still time for Baker-Richardson to have one more chance before the break.
QPR dallied in defence, Tom Carroll robbed Eze and put the ball on a plate for Baker-Richardson who saw Joe Lumley produce a smart save.
Bersant Celina curled over when the second half began as QPR's poor final ball continued to frustrate Steve McClaren.
With better quality of their own, Swansea should have put the former England manager's side to bed earlier than they did and the game descended into a scrappy affair as both teams coughed up possession.
Celina tried his luck from range again and George Byers fired wide before McClaren introduced giant striker Matt Smith in search of an equaliser.
Swansea attempted to shore up their lead by bringing Leroy Fer and Fulton into midfield with Baker-Richardson withdrawn and McBurnie left alone up front.
It worked as Roberts scored the crucial second. Fulton's pass found the Wales international who passed up the opportunity to shoot on his favoured right foot and cut in on his left.
His choice made no difference to the overall outcome as Roberts' deflected effort left Lumley with no chance.
Fulton rubbed salt in QPR wounds after McBurnie dribbled through and the midfielder's right-foot effort was also deflected into the back of the net.
Graham Potter: "Courtney has different attributes to our other players and he had a bit of a thankless task, but he opened up some space for Oli McBurnie and he did everything asked of him.
"I was pleased he stayed on the field longer than the five minutes he did before he was sent off at Millwall and collectively I can't fault any of my team."
Steve McClaren: "I am disappointed with the scoreline. In the first 15 minutes I thought we started well. We created chances, but the final ball was not right and we were not clinical in front of goal. We conceded from their first attack. We came back well, in the second half especially and we had chances to equalise and got punished.
"After the second goal, there was only one result. It was not a 3-0 game. We're just not scoring. We're not clinical enough at the present moment and that is disappointing."
