Ten years at the Liberty: A Fab debu

To celebrate Swansea City's tenth season at the Liberty Stadium, we are looking back on the stand-out moments over the last decade.
Here, we look back at a key fixture in the Swans' Championship promotion campaign.



Swansea City 3 Nottingham Forest 2
Coca-Cola Championship
March 19, 2011

With the season approaching its run-in and with the Swans sitting proudly in third place in the Championship, their fixture with Nottingham Forest was to be a major test for Brendan Rodgers' side.
The visitors, placed in the final play-off position, were just three points adrift of the Swans, while the hosts were hoping to maintain the pressure on QPR and Norwich City for the two automatic promotion places.
With the need for extra fire power, Rodgers had dipped into the loan market to sign 19-year-old Italian striker Fabio Borini from Chelsea, who lined up to make his debut that afternoon.



On a warm and sunny afternoon at the Liberty, the Swans started the game on the front foot.
Dominating the midfield through Joe Allen and Mark Gower, the home side forced Forest onto the back foot early on while wingers Nathan Dyer and Scott Sinclair caused havoc on the flanks.
And it was Sinclair who gave the Swans a deserved lead on 21 minutes with one of the goals of the season.
Leaving several players in his wake on a mazy run from the halfway line, he beat Forest goalkeeper Lee Camp with a well-taken low finish.



Five minutes later, a peach of a pass from Alan Tate released Angel Rangel, who squared the ball for Borini, the lone striker in Swansea's 4-5-1 formation.
The young Italian's first shot was blocked by a defender, but his second almost burst the net - a fine finish from an acute angle.
Although Kris Boyd pulled a goal back for the visitors in first-half injury time, the Swans continued to dominate proceedings in the second period.
Borini, showing his poacher's instinct, scored his second of the game on 56 minutes to seemingly put the game beyond Forest.
But that was until Paul Anderson made it 3-2 in injury time and suddenly home nerves began to jangle.
Only the woodwork denied Forest an equalizer as Chris Cohen's cross from the left brushed against Swans substitute Garry Monk before clattering an upright.




Player profile
Fabio Borini (2011)
Italian forward Fabio Borini began his playing career with Bologna, where he made a name for him himself during his time with the club's youth side.
Borini joined Premier League champions Chelsea in the summer of 2007, where he continued his football education under Chelsea youth team coach Brendan Rodgers.
He was top scorer for the Blues' reserves with ten goals in 11 games, before being called up to the Chelsea first-team squad in September 2009.
He made his top-flight debut as a second-half substitute against Tottenham Hotspur in September 2009, but having tasted first-team action, the young Italian wanted more, and with his chances of making Chelsea's first XI slim, he took up the offer of a loan spell at Swansea City.
He arrived at the Liberty Stadium in March 2011, where he made an instant impact, teaming up with his former Chelsea youth team boss Rodgers.
He enjoyed a stunning debut against Nottingham Forest, scoring two goals and terrorising the Forest defence all afternoon.
Borini continued to impress during his stint with the Swans, scoring several important goals to help the Swans secure promotion to the Premier League following their play-off final victory over Reading.