Pre-season round-up: Wins for Swansea and Southampton while Norwich and Celtic are defeated

Ajax 4-0 Celtic

Ten-man Celtic slipped to a heavy defeat in Amsterdam as they were demolished 4-0 by Ajax in their final pre-season fixture away from home.

The SPL champions fielded a strong side, with last season's free-scoring duo of Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper paired up front in a line-up which also included Joe Ledley, Scott Brown and Emilio Izaguirre.

But they could not contend with the Dutch giants' brilliance, as Siem de Jong hit a 30-yard screamer into the top corner to give them the lead on 13 minutes.

Less than 10 minutes later it was 2-0 as poor defending from Celtic let in Viktor Fischer, who drew Fraser Forster from his line before squaring to Kolbeinn Sigthorsson to tap into an empty net.

Ajax went from strength to strength, and added a third before the half hour. Thulani Serero ran clean through on goal, and showed great composure to slot the ball between Forster's legs and into the net.

Celtic improved after the break with a number of half-chances, as Victor Wanyama saw his goalbound effort blocked by a defender but it proved to be a short-lived respite. Charlie Mulgrew was dismissed after handling the ball on his own goal line, and from the resulting penalty Daley Blindscored to make the final score 4-0 to the hosts.
Port Talbot 0-5 Swansea
Stephen Dobbie hit a first-half hat-trick as new Swans manager Michael Laudrup watched his side secure a comfortable 5-0 win against Welsh Premier League outfit Port Talbot in their first pre-season fixture.

Dobbie formed an attacking trio alongside Leroy Lita and Luke Moore, while in defence youngsters such as Scott Tancock and Daniel Alfei were given a chance to impress.

Swansea made a blistering start, opening the scoring on four minutes as Dobbie converted from the spot after Curtis Obeng was brought down in the penalty area.

Lita made it 2-0 moments later, side-footing in a precise finish, before he was fouled inside the box to allow Dobbie to step up and add his second spot-kick of the day midway through the half.

Dobbie had to wait just two minutes to complete his hat-trick, playing a neat one-two with Andrea Orlandi before firing in past Craig Richards.

The visitors made a number of changes at the break to create a largely youthful line-up. Dobbie went close to adding his fourth, before being replaced by Henry Jones on the hour.

18-year-old Jones made an instant impression, running on to a loose ball outside the area and firing in a low shot for number five with 20 minutes remaining to round off the win.