Swansea City continued their pre-season preparations this afternoon with a friendly against Forest Green Rovers at Fairwood, with the Swans running out 3-2 winners.
It follows on from their contest against Colchester United earlier on in the week. Like that game, the fixture against Rovers was once again played behind closed doors at Swansea's training complex on the edge of Gower.
Tuesday's match was played across four 30-minute quarters, but this clash reverted to two standard 45-minute halves. It came too soon for new signing Joe Allen, who penned a two-year deal on his return to south Wales on Friday.
READ MORE: 'I'm coming home' - Joe Allen explains reasons behind Swansea City return
In the first half head coach Russell Martin went strong with his line-up, with the likes of Matt Grimes, Harry Darling, Michael Obafemi and Joel Piroe starting against the League One outfit.
New signings Nathan Wood and Matty Sorinola also started, alongside Jay Fulton and youngster Cameron Congreve.
Obafemi put Swansea in front in the 12th minute, finishing off from close range. Their lead didn't last long though, with the visitors levelling matters on 19 minutes through Reece Brown.
They went one better five minutes before the break, with Rovers taking the lead with a goal from outside the box after good work from Armani Little. But the advantage was once again short-lived, with Kyle Naughton drilling home a low strike to tie the scores at 2-2 at the turnaround point.
Martin rang the changes at half-time, making 10 changes for the second period. Joel Latibeaudiere and Olivier Ntcham were the most senior players to feature, alongside the likes of Brandon Cooper, Ben Lloyd and Nathanael Ogbeta. Morgan Whittaker and Liam Cullen, both linked with moves away from SA1 this summer, began the second half in attack.
And it was the latter who proved to be the match-winner, firing home a free-kick late on to give Martin a second win in pre-season after their 7-0 win over Haverfordwest County last week. It will no doubt have served as a valuable afternoon for the head coach, who will now know a bit more about where his team is at ahead of the new term.
Players not involved this afternoon were Tivonge Rushesha, Liam Walsh, Jamie Paterson, Steven Benda, Ben Cabango, Ryan Bennett, Daniel Williams, Jordon Garrick and Allen.
Swansea play in front of fans at Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday, July 12, before facing Bristol Rovers four days later.
They sign off their summer schedule at Charlton Athletic on Saturday, July 23 - a week before their Championship opener against Rotherham United at the New York Stadium.
Swans v Forest Green Rovers (first half): Fisher, Manning, Wood, Darling, Naughton, Grimes, Fulton, Congreve, Sorinola, Piroe, Obafemi.
Swans v Forest Green Rovers (second half): Fisher, B. Cooper, Latibeaudiere, Ogbeta, O. Cooper, Cotterill, Joseph, Lloyd, Ntcham, Whittaker, Cullen.
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