Swansea City 4 - 1 Leyton Orient
Coca-Cola League One
ORIENT were blown away by League One champions Swansea City in a whirlwind first half at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
Swansea's Spanish forward Guillem Bauza struck a 19-minute hat-trick to help his side to a 4-0 interval lead and illustrate how far off the pace Orient have dropped in the second half of the season.
Mercifully, Orient improved after the break and pulled a goal back through Wayne Gray, but that did little to mask the deficiencies so brutally exposed in the first half.
Martin Ling's men competed for the first 18 minutes, but once Paul Anderson opened the scoring there was only ever going to be one winner.
It was the second time Orient had been heavily beaten by the Welshmen this season - they romped to a 5-0 success at Brisbane Road in October - and the O's will now go into next week's final game of the season against Bristol Rovers looking for their first win in six attempts.
Orient lined up with the same 4-3-3 formation that served them well against Doncaster last week and they were greeted by a party atmosphere at the Liberty Stadium, with the hosts celebrating their promotion to the Championship.
And they had even more reason to celebrate with 18 minutes on the clock when Anderson took advantage of an error from Charlie Daniels to seize possession on the right flank, dash towards goal and send a curling left-footed shot beyond Glenn Morris and high into the net.
Three minutes later, Bauza tried to catch Morris off his line, but his chipped effort dropped over the crossbar.
Anderson, given the freedom of the right flank, led the home side's next charge, collecting a punch from goalkeeper Dorus de Vries and carrying the ball 80 yards before drawing a stop with Morris with his low effort from outside the area.
Swansea didn't have to wait long to double their advantage though, Bauza sliding home from close range after strike partner Jason Scotland held off Sam Oji from Anderson's cross, giving the Spaniard a simple finish.
Orient's gameplan was not showing signs of success, so manager Martin Ling reverted to using a 4-4-2 system, with Wayne Gray moving up front alongside Jabo Ibehre and Andy Barcham dropping to a wide right position.
However, their situation quickly worsened and Swansea went 3-0 up ten minutes before the interval when Bauza stroked into a empty net from range after Scotland breached the Orient line, forcing Morris to leave his goal and challenge.
The ball broke to Bauza, and he wasn't going to pass up the invitation to find the net for the second time of the afternoon.
Nine minutes later, the former Espanyol man had his hat-trick to leave Orient thoroughly beaten before the first half was up.
Bauza was perfectly positioned to finish via the underside of the crossbar after Andy Robinson, in acres of space on the left hand side, ran towards the penalty area before forcing a decent low stop from Morris as he cut inside.
Scotland, League One's top scorer, should have added a fifth eight minutes after the interval, but he couldn't beat Morris in a one-on-one situation after he shrugged off Brian Saah to give himself a free run on goal.
Orient hadn't even managed a shot on goal for the first hour of the game, but they did find a way onto the scoresheet with 63 minutes on the clock.
Half-time sub Adam Boyd got the move started, spraying a fine crossfield pass over to JJ Melligan in space on the right. Melligan's first attempt at a centre was blocked, but he stood the ball up at the second time of asking for Gray to nod home from close range.
Morris denied Scotland and Garry Monk at the other end, but with the game already well won, Orient's defence was getting some much-needed respite.
Even so, Scotland wasted his second glorious chance three minutes before the end when, faced only with Morris again, he took the ball too wide and Oji got back to tackle.
Orient were grateful that Swansea had taken their foot off the gas, but that first half blast showed the yawning chasm between themselves and the top of the table.
Swansea: de Vries; Rangel, Monk, Lawrence, Painter; Anderson (Butler 82), Britton (Way 54), Tudur-Jones, Robinson; Scotland, Bauza (Brandy 73)
Subs: Austin, Tate
Goals: Anderson (18), Bauza (25, 35, 44)
Leyton Orient: Morris; Purches, Saah, Oji, Daniels; Chambers, Terry, Demetriou (Thornton 75); W Gray, Ibehre (Boyd 46), Barcham (Melligan 46)
Subs: Palmer, B Gray
Goal: W Gray (63)
Referee: Rob Lewis (Shropshire)
Attendance: 16,856 (207 away)
