Swansea v Gillingham Competition - Carabao Cup, EFL Trophy, 1st Round Venue - Swansea.com Stadium Date - 13 August 2024 Kick off - 7:45pm Following their disappointing opening day defeat away at Middlesbrough, next up for Luke Williams’ threadbare Swansea squad is a League Cup. First Round fixture at home to League Two Gillingham. Last Saturday’s defeat could well mean that the Swans will head into Tuesday's EFL Cup tie in a somewhat downbeat mood after their seventh consecutive Championship campaign began with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough. Emmanuel Latte Lath’s 25th-minute penalty proved enough to separate the two sides, ensuring that the Swans left the Riverside Stadium with nothing to show for their efforts. The Swans will now look to offer a positive response in their first home outing of the season, and they may be able to take confidence from the fact they have won four of their last five home games in the EFL Cup. On the other hand, Gillingham boss Mark Bonner could not have wished for a better start to his tenure as he watched his side ease past Carlisle United on the opening day of the League Two season. Timothee Dieng, Jacob Wakeling, Jack Nolan and Jonny Williams all found the net in Saturday's commanding 4-1 win at Priestfield. After getting off to a winning start, Bonner will be hoping that his side can produce another strong performance in his first away game as Gillingham boss. Whilst the Gills will undoubtedly be the underdogs in Tuesday's match, they can take confidence from the fact they have progressed from the first round in each of the past four seasons, and Gillingham will enter the contest with hopes of beating Swansea for the first time since September 2006. The Swans have played Gillingham on 39 previous occasions, winning 16, losing 13 and drawing 10. The teams last met in an FA Cup 4th Round match in January 2019 when the Swans ran out comfortable 4-1 winners, with Ollie McBurnie grabbing a brace: Turning to tomorrow, David Rock will be the man in the middle on Tuesday evening. The experienced official has been refereeing at National League and EFL level since 2014, but this will be the first time he has taken charge of a Swans’ fixture. Indeed, his only previous visit to the Swansea.com Stadium in an official capacity came when he was fourth official for the home game against Millwall on the final day of last season. Rock took charge of Yeovil’s National League clash with Hartlepool on Saturday, and handed out five bookings. Rock will be assisted by Declan O’Shea and Grant Taylor, while Matthew Russell will be the fourth official. As for the outcome, much will depend on how strong a team Luke Williams selects. Assuming, a largely unchanged starting XI, I’m going for a 3-1 home win.
Thanks Taff. I would like to think it will be straightforward but you never know! It will be interesting to see what team is picked. I think it will be quite a strong one. So I am going for 3-0
22, L. Vigouroux Number21, N. Tjoe-A-On Number3, K. Pedersen Number5, B. Cabango Number26, K. Naughton Number8, M. Grimes (c), Captain Number47, A. Abdulai Number31, O. Cooper Number4, J. Fulton Number35, Ronald Number9, Ž. Vipotnik Bench 17, Gonçalo Franco Number29, N. Broome Number20, L. Cullen Number6, H. Darling Number10, Eom Ji-Sung Number2, J. Key Number44, J. Thomas Number14, J. Tymon Number99, D. Watts
1, G. Morris Number3, M. Clark Number22, S. Ogie Number5, M. Ehmer (c), Captain Number31, A. Giles Number14, R. McKenzie Number7, J. Nolan Number10, J. Williams Number21, E. Williams Number17, J. Clarke Number29, J. Gbode
Our new striker from Bordeaux, seems very much adrift and out of his league, early days I know, but if he cannot cut it against the mighty Gillingham, well he's not going to do much in the Championship.
I’m at the stadium watching this, and that Vipotnik guy has been dreadful. He needs to get involved a hell of a lot more.
Agree….ish. On paper it doesn’t look too bad at all. However, the reality was that Middlesboro should have scored several more and were by far the better team. Last night, Gillingham were no competition, went down to 10 men and scored from their only cross. Early days for Vipotnik, but we may have well as been down to 10 men whilst he was on the field he offered so little. Cullen replaced him and scored immediately. I hope Vipotnik had a major off day because that performance wasn’t up to it.
Has to be given time I was thinking he didn’t have any pre season as Bordeaux went bust but he was at the euros although hardly any game time. Needs time with the team. I am sure it will happen for him, still like another striker in though.
