Newly promoted Swansea City claimed their first Premier League win and goals on an emotional day at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday following a local colliery tragedy which claimed the lives of four miners on Friday.
The men were found dead at the Gleision Colliery in the Swansea valley after a 30-hour search by rescuers ended with the discovery of the men’s bodies deep underground and the disaster was marked with a minute’s silence before Saturday’s match against West Bromwich Albion which Swansea won 3-0.
The silence was also held as a tribute to the father of Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers, who died recently after a long illness.
Photo: AFP
Rodgers told Sky Sports afterwards: “It was like a bombshell this week in many aspects of life, football and social, with my father’s passing and the miners.”
“It’s an incredible thing that a family man goes to work and he doesn’t come back,” he said. “Our sympathies and our thoughts are with the families involved, and we tried to provide a tonic today for our supporters who have been so supportive of myself and the team.”
Swansea City won with a 14th-minute penalty from Scott Sinclair, a 34th-minute header from Leroy Lita and a third from Nathan Dyer early in the second half, ending a barren spell in which they failed to score in their first four games.
It was also their first goals and win in the top flight since May 1983 when their two-year run in the old First Division ended. The win lifted them out of the bottom three into 12th spot with five points.
Elsewhere on Saturday there were wins for two other promoted teams, with Queens Park Rangers and Norwich City scoring deserved victories.
QPR’s resurgence since their takeover by Malaysian tycoon Tony Fernandes continued with a 3-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, where goals in the opening 10 minutes from captain Joey Barton and Alejandro Faurlin put the Hoops 2-0 up. D.J. Campbell completed the scoring late on.
Norwich also registered their first win of the campaign, goals from Anthony Pilkington and Bradley Johnson setting up a 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok.
Wanderers had Ivan Klasnic sent off for headbutting Marc Tierney on halftime. Martin Petrov pulled a goal back for Bolton on 64 minutes, but the Canaries held on for a precious win.
Newcastle United moved up into fourth spot after holding Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw at Villa Park, Leon Best’s second-half strike securing a share of the points for the Magpies after Gabriel Agbonlahor had put the home side ahead.
Everton came from behind to down Wigan Athletic 3-1 at Goodison Park, Phil Jagielka equalizing Franco Di Santo’s opener for the Latics, before substitute Apostolos Vellios made it 2-1 on 84 minutes. New loan signing Roysten Drenthe added a third deep into stoppage-time to seal all three points for David Moyes’ side.
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