REPORT: Villa 0-3 Swansea

Aston Villa fell at the first hurdle of the FA Cup for the third successive season. Swansea City ran rampant at Villa Park, defeating a hapless Villa side 3-0.

Dean Smith made six alterations to the side that faltered against QPR four days prior. James Chester and Conor Hourihane were given rests whilst Tammy Abraham didn’t feature due to an agreement in his loan deal. Callum O’Hare started with Scott Hogan and the injury free Neil Taylor, whilst Lovre Kalinic deputised in goal.

Early Swansea goal

It took 18 seconds for Hogan to get his first chance to claim his place ahead of the outgoing Abraham, but failed to convert. Instead, only a minute later he gave the ball away on the edge of the Villa box. Mike van der Hoorn collected the ball on the right flank before drilling across the box to find youngster Courtney Baker-Richardson. He bundled the ball over the line after Kalinic failed to impose himself in his own six-yard box.

The hosts then tried to come back immediately with Albert Adomah attacking the right-hand side. He swung the ball towards Hogan who wandered into the box to meet the Ghanian’s deliver. His volley was blocked by Erwin Mulder on the goal-line. Yet, as the Dutchman tried to keep it out of his goal he miraculously stretched across it to beat away, as Hogan’s effort seemed to have crossed the line.

Villa failed to sustain pressure on the away side and almost paid the price. Efforts from Bersant Celina and Baker-Richardson almost doubled the Swans advantage. But after both Taylor and Anwar El-Ghazi slept on the left side of the defence, Nathan Dyer crept between the two to latch onto Leroy Fer’s pass and finished beyond Kalinic for a second.

Second Half

Once more, Hogan had his chance to score his first of the campaign. Johnathan Kodjia crossed towards the near post, but Joe Rodon covered Hogan’s run, denying the out of form striker an effort on goal.

Blunt at the top of the pitch and asleep at the other. Alan Hutton rounded off a poor display at the heart of the Villa backline by failing to avert danger as he slid in to block Leroy Fer. The Scot, however, switched off as Jay Fulton found a pocket of space in the box and swept into an empty net, adding a third for the away side.

Villa will now set their sights on a trip to Wigan before entertaining Hull City and Ipswich Town in a generous month of fixtures for Dean Smith’s men.