Swansea City 4-1 Gillingham in FA Cup fourth round

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FA Cup: Swansea City 4-1 Gillingham highlights

Swansea City progressed to the FA Cup fifth round and ensured there was no happy homecoming for Gillingham's Swansea-born manager Steve Lovell.

Oli McBurnie's double put Swansea 2-0 ahead, only for Josh Rees to give the Gills hope with a second-half header.

But Bersant Celina's cracker ensured there was no nervous finish before Barrie McKay finished from close range.

The Swans have now reached the last 16 of the FA Cup in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1964-65.

Former Wales international Lovell has family members with season tickets at the Liberty Stadium, but his side could not match their heroics of the third round when they stunned Premier League Cardiff City.

Saturday's contest was effectively over by half-time as two goals from striker McBurnie gave Graham Potter's Championship side a foot in the fifth round.

McBurnie was the outstanding performer on a really comfortable afternoon for the hosts, who never looked likely to suffer the same fate as local rivals Cardiff.

The Swans forward almost opened the scoring as early as the sixth minute with a fierce effort that struck the inside of the post, before he headed wide with an even better chance two minutes later.

However, the Scotland forward could not miss when he headed home Leroy Fer's pinpoint cross on 10 minutes from just six yards.

Swansea were in the ascendency and deservedly doubled their lead just past the half-hour mark when Connor Roberts and McKay combined, with McKay's back-heel perfect for McBurnie, allowing him to collect and shoot low past Tomas Holy.

The League One side responded well to going in two goals behind and sniffed a chance of a comeback when Rees' firm header from Mark Byrne's perfect cross made it 2-1 with only five minutes gone in the second half.

Swansea had several chances to reaffirm their advantage, with Mike van der Hoorn denied from inside the six-yard box by some last-ditch defending, before Celina collected and blasted into the top corner from 25 yards to make the result safe.

McKay's close-range fourth added gloss to a scoreline that means Swansea have now eliminated the Gills from the FA Cup on all four occasions the sides have met in the competition and can look forward to Monday's fifth-round draw.

Swansea manager Graham Potter told BBC Sport Wales: "Overall - especially after the third goal went in, which was a fantastic strike - it became a little bit easier for us, but credit to Gillingham, they kept going.

"In the FA Cup strange things happen, as we've seen already, so it's nice for us that we're through to the next round.

"That's the beauty of this competition. That's why everybody likes it so much.

"We're not that good that that type of thing won't happen. It's how you react [to conceding] that's important - and I thought we reacted well."

Gillingham manager Steve Lovell told BBC Sport Wales: "The players worked very hard, they gave everything, they couldn't give any more.

"There was a spell in the second half when we got back to 2-1 and I thought we had a chance of nicking another one later on.

"The third goal killed it - and it was a great goal, top quality.

"Swansea are an excellent side, a good passing side, and first half they gave us a lesson in how to pass the ball around and create things."

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