The bragging rights in South Wales sit very much in the black and white half of Swansea this evening after a comprehensive destruction of Cardiff City in the South Wales derby.

Three second half goals from the Swans told just half a story of domination after a pretty even first half saw Cardiff completely outplayed in the second as Garry Monk's Swans reign started with the perfect tonic - a win over their local rivals lifting them back into the top half of the Premier League table.

The strike from Wayne Routledge was added to by headers from Nathan Dyer and Wilfried Bony as the home side more than made amends for their 1-0 defeat at Legoland last November and showed all the deficiencies in the Cardiff side whilst starting to showcase again what is good about us.

It was a perfect ending to a long week at Swansea that had started with defeat at West Ham and involved the sacking of a manager for the first time in ten years when Michael Laudrup departed on Tuesday evening. The replacement of Garry Monk seemed to have no difficulty in lifting the Swans and the atmosphere at the Liberty as the Swans outplayed and outsung their rivals who spent large periods of the game like rabbits in the headlight of a Swansea onslaught.

Ironically they probably had the better chances in the first half although the Swans definitely had the lions share of possession and themselves created some good chances without testing Marshall greatly in the Cardiff goal.

It was the introduction of Pablo Hernandez though at half time that made an instant impact as his brilliant through ball just over a minute into the second half played in Routledge who steered the ball past Marshall and into the corner of the Cardiff net to bring the Liberty to it's feet in a sea of noise.

It was the lift that the Swans needed and from that point forward in my book there was only one winner as the Swans pushed forward at every opportunity whilst Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made a mockery of his January transfer dealings by taking off his three main signings for players who I really don't think are up to the Premier League thus making our jobs easier on the day.

Dyer grabbed the second when he came in almost unmarked to head home Routledge's cross and just five minutes later Bony headed home a free kick from Pablo Hernandez to finish the rout and start the party at the Liberty as the Cardiff fans sat in stunned silence at how second best their team really was on the day.

The Swans are by no means safe from relegation worries at this point but if this is the kind of performance we can expect from this point forward then it won't take long for those worries to disappear completely but without a doubt for Cardiff they are in a run of form that they need to halt very quickly or they could find themselves adrift very soon.

A superb start for Garry Monk as he adds another line to his CV for a permanent position in the Liberty hot seat.

Great day.

Photo: Action Images

Ptpeaty added 00:42 - Feb 9 Swans played well as a team tonight and the backbone of it was formed back in the Championship days (Ash, Dyer, Rangel, Briiton, Taylor). Postings on the Cardiff forums express surprise at not doing better and that is probably due to their trying to buy a team. Anyway, that's their problem. We seem to have got back on track.
0

Stoke City Polls