A summers evening in West London brought back memories of the classic 5-0 win at the start of the Laudrup era pre match tonight. QPR away used to be a bogey game for the Swans and last season’s 4-0 loss was one of the low points of the season. Played at the Kiyan Prince foundation stadium which is named after the QPR academy player who was tragically killed after he was stabbed in 2006. The Swans have had a good start to the season and 1,000 members of the Jack Army filled the away end including Oli McBurnie who the fans serenaded through the game

The Swans started the brighter of the two sides showing good control and displaying attacking endeavour, although Eze looked dangerous on the left wing for the R’s. The visitors settled the quickest of the two teams  and looked threatening with Baston up top and Andre Ayew starting on the wing. Ayew seemed to take a bit longer to get on the same wavelength as his team mates. Woodman looked sharp from the start and despite his lack of first team experience he is a step up from the other goalkeepers in our squad. Celina who was featuring heavily in the Swans play pulled a shot wide after 22 minutes, this came after some good work by Connor Roberts who put a nice ball across the box which Borja missed and the ball then ran to Celina. In the 28^th minute the deadlock was broken after a QPR corner saw the Swans break up play and counter attack, Ayew took the ball over the halfway line and he fed to Celina who showed good composure to finish his one on one with the keeper.

The visitors looked far more organised in defence than they did last year with set pieces being more secure than it was under Graham Potter. Woodman seems to be playing a key role in this and looks set to be a good loan signing this season. The Swans looked good value for the lead and looked by far the superior team on display. At half time it seemed that the Jacks could go up a few more gears and it was clear that QPR needed to improve to stay in the game. QPR certainly came out of the changing rooms in a more direct manner and dominated the first 20 minutes of the half where they dominated possession and had the lions share of the chances. Woodman made a good save on the hour but the visitors continued to struggle to get out of trouble and soaked up too much pressure. Good work to get the ball into the box saw Jordan Hugil level the scores with a good header which just evaded Woodman in the right hand corner. With another attack almost seeing QPR scoring again the Swans needed to change and open the game up. Wyndham Evans on Swans TV was kicking every ball in commentary, and he was pleased to see the introduction of Jordan Garrick a man who made a big impact last week against Northampton. This was Garrick’s league debut and his pace and dribbling ability was expected to make a difference for the Swans.

The game opened up more at this point and with Garrick’s first touch taking him on a dribble into the box he was brought down by a strong challenge which saw premier league referee Paul Tierney point to the spot. Borja Baston stepped up and hit his penalty straight down the middle to continue his scoring streak this season. QPR continued to threaten an equaliser and some last ditch defending from Jake Bidwell against his former club kept the visitors in the game. Bournemouth loanee Sam Surridge then came off the bench and was another to have an impact when he finished Ayew’s cross after some good work by the Ghanaian to win the  ball of the R’s midfield. The Swans were now in control and Wyndham Evans was proclaiming Jordan Garrick as the next Dan James which would be nice if it came true.

The Swans continued to play attacking football and could have pushed for a few more goals but it finished 3-1 which was a fair result. With Ayew and Celina providing nice touches through the game and Borja continuing his scoring streak there seems to be a confident mood in the team. Man of the Match for me was Freddie Woodman who made a string of saves to deny QPR and keep the Swans in touch. The win sees us climb to second in the table which is a nice sight but more challenging games are ahead but this momentum can continue against Birmingham on Sunday at the Liberty. Steve Cooper has had a good start and the team seems to be in safe hands.