Swansea’s top scorer of the past two seasons, Joel Piroe, struck twice to give his new boss Michael Duff his first win as the Championship side went safely into the second round of the Carabao Cup with a 3-0 home win over Northampton.
The subject of much transfer speculation this summer, Piroe struck in the 10th minute when Wales international Ollie Cooper drove into the Cobblers’ box and passed across goal for a simple tap-in.
His second came 10 minutes into the second half and was equally simple. This time Liam Cullen took up the running on the right and his cross ricocheted off a defender and went in off Piroe’s chest.
The first strike took him to 50 goals in his professional career and his second made it 46 in 94 games for the Swans.
Swansea dominated the opening exchanges, but their League One visitors created a couple of good chances, both of which were pushed just past the post by Kieron Bowie.
Swansea came out hard and fast at the start of the second half and skipper Matt Grimes set Cooper free, but he stumbled as he tried to beat Max Thompson in the Northampton goal and saw his scrambled effort go inches wide.
New signing Josh Ginnelly marked his debut with a 93rd-minute scorcher to put the final seal on a good night’s work.
