Swansea City 3-1 Gillingham: Hosts ease into round two after seeing off 10-man Gills

Swansea City held off a late fight back to ease their way into the second round of the Carabao Cup at the expense of 10-man Gillingham at the Swansea.com Stadium.

A brilliant finish from Ronald midway inside the first half got the hosts up and running in atrocious conditions, before Euan Williams was given his marching orders just after half-time for a shocking tackle on Kyle Naughton.

Liam Cullen came off the bench to add a second for the Swans deep into the second half, before Oliver Hawkins headed home to set up a nervy finish in a contest the hosts had otherwise dominated.

But Azeem Abdulai settled the contest late on with a neat finish, as the Swans claimed a place in the second round.

Luke Williams will, for the most part, probably be pleased with much of what he saw under the lights here, albeit with the caveat of it coming against League Two opposition.

The Swans boss made six changes from the side that lost at Middlesbrough on Saturday, with summer signing Zan Vipotnik handed his first start, while Indonesian celebrity Nathan Tjoe-a-on was handed his first ever Swans appearance since joining last summer.

Swansea went just over an hour before mustering a single shot in their disappointing Championship opener with Middlesbrough, but produced three gilt-edged opportunities in 10 minutes as part of an impressive start.

Ollie Cooper's angled effort was denied by the legs of Glenn Morris in the Gillingham goal, the visiting goalkeeper then having to be alert to palm away Jay Fulton's curling effort shortly after Vipotnik had poked Ronald's teasing cross over the bar.

The Brazilian came close himself just a few minutes later, but saw a rasping angled effort palmed over the bar by Morris, who was already playing a crucial