Swansea's summer schedule continues at a canter
The Swans today overcame a resilient Exeter City side who were relegated at our expense way back when. The friendlies this summer have so far all been one-way traffic, but as long as the defence doesn't drop off (and given Gary Johnson's assessment of Ashley Williams in the aftermath of the Yeovil game there's no reason to think they are) the winning run we've gone on since departing for Holland can only be good for team spirit. Everyone likes winning (and scoring goals), and certain players will have picked up a slightly larger confidence boost than others; notably Rory Donnelly & Nathan Dyer.
Dyer's goal today (great pass by Canas too) further rams home what I was talking about in this morning's blog, about how he's worked on finishing tirelessly to the point where he's now placing shots into the far corner - today was a perfect example of that and hopefully he can carry that confidence into the new season. He only managed 3 league goals last year, so he'll be looking to better that tally this coming campaign.
In Donnelly's case I just hope the mooted arrival of another striker doesn't put paid to any game-time he was set to pick up, but with Laudrup seemingly cool on talk of another striker for now Rory's got every reason to be confident he could be featuring for the first team before too long. Again today he was in the right place at the right time to finish a neat team move, so he clearly understands the positional aspect of his role in the team and some of his finishing so far this pre-season has been top class.
When Laudrup was being interviewed on the training pitch, he was asked if the incoming striker would be "someone in the mould of Shechter?" - what that's supposed to mean is anyone's guess, but I did feel sorry for Rory at the tail end of last season in that I'd have much rather seen him gain game time at the expense of the Israeli forward.
Fingers crossed, he won't have to wait too long for his "craic" at the big time...