Swansea City 3-1 Crawley Town: Swans ease into Carabao Cup second round

The last time Swansea City edged out Crawley Town in a Carabao Cup tie, they were lifting the trophy under the arch at Wembley a few months later.

At the risk of sounding pessimistic, it's unlikely their season will take a similar path this time around. But nonetheless, this felt an important win for Alan Sheehan, who after overseeing a toothless opening day defeat at Middlesbrough, has already had to navigate some gentle grumbles about the state of his squad.

Ronald's early opener, and a first Swans goal for Bobby Wales proved enough to seal victory on the night, despite Kabongo Tshimanga pulling a goal back late on for the visitors, who were reduced to 10 men when substitute Gavan Holohan was given his marching orders.

Swansea should have been far more comfortable by that point, but few could argue they didn't deserve it when Ethan Galbraith lashed home for his first Swans goal late on.

Sealing a place in round two will go some way to injecting a bit of confidence into this team, which after yet another summer of upheaval is still a work in progress.

It looks like there will be another new face through the door before the week is out too, with Brighton and Hove Albion youngster Malick Yalcouye taking in this contest ahead of his imminent loan move.

Having handed starts to two of his seven summer signings on Teesside, Sheehan handed full debuts to three more for this clash, with Zeidane Inoussa, Kaelan Casey and Melker Widell all making their full debuts.

But it was a more familiar face that had Swansea up and running after just five minutes.

Inoussa did brilliantly to ride a couple of challenges in midfield before spraying out wide to Josh Tymon, and his low ball fizzed across the box before finding Ronald at the far post,