Swansea City 1-3 Stoke City: Josh Laurent brace and Lewis Baker strike earn Potters victory over woeful Swans

Swansea City were once again emphatically punished for making poor errors in their own half as they were beaten 3-1 by Stoke City.

The hosts made a dream start at the Swansea.com Stadium as Morgan Whittaker scored in the second minute on what was his first start for the club since returning from his loan spell with Plymouth Argyle.

But the Swans were alarmingly sloppy in possession at the back after that and saw Josh Laurent strike twice in the space of four minutes before Lewis Baker struck in injury-time to earn the Potters all three points as Swansea lost for the fourth time in five matches.

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Russell Martin made three changes to the side that started against Blackburn Rovers three days earlier. Matty Sorinola replaced Joel Latibeaudiere at right wing-back while the absences of Jay Fulton and Luke Cundle paved the way for Whittaker to make his first league start for the Swans since May 2021 alongside Ollie Cooper behind Joel Piroe in attack.

And Whittaker took just shy of two minutes to make a telling impact. Sorinola lofted a direct ball towards the Stoke box after the visitors had cleared a corner, and Whittaker controlled it beautifully on his chest before prodding beyond Matija Sarkic via the crossbar to net his first goal for the club since bagging a hat-trick against his now former club Plymouth Argyle in what was Martin's first month as boss.

But the hosts failed to build on that dream start and gave the Potters plenty of hope with some risky play in their own half. As was the case in the second-half against Blackpool earlier this month, the nerves were soon jangling in the stands.

Having survived a few scares