Roberto Martinez's Swansea continued their impressive charge towards the Coca-Cola Championship play-offs with a dominant victory over promotion rivals Preston.

The Swans showed no ill-effects from their FA Cup heroics at Portsmouth on Saturday as they made it three wins in a row in the league.

City took less than two minutes to take the lead through Jordi Gomez's shot and they went on to dominate the opening period and were good value for the second handed to them by Jason Scotland just before the half-hour mark.

Substitute Guillem Bauza tapped home another in the 69th minute and Alan Tate stroked home a late fourth.

Although Chris Brown scored a barely-deserved consolation in the final minute, the hosts never looked likely to let slip a win which puts them within touching distance of the play-off places.

City went ahead when midfielder Gomez collected a pass from Darren Pratley and fired a shot past Andy Lonergan from 12 yards.

The news did not get any better for the visitors, already without top-scorer Neil Mellor due to injury, when experienced defender Callum Davidson had to be replaced by Eddie Nolan after just six minutes.

Swansea soon had a problem of their own, though, when midfielder Pratley limped off with Bauza taking his place.

Roberto Martinez's team, who have not lost in the Championship since November, were well on top for most of the first quarter of the match without managing to create much in the way of chances.

The supporters had to wait until the 29th minute for the next goalmouth action - and it led to the Welsh side doubling their advantage.

It was Mark Gower who played a fine through ball to top-scorer Scotland who composed himself before firing low past Lonergan for his 13th league strike of the season.

With Preston's frustration growing, Paul McKenna received the first booking of the match for a foul on the influential Nathan Dyer.

Richard Chaplow finally had a shot for North End in the dying moments but his 25-yarder was off target, while Jon Parkin could only shoot over the bar from inside the box.

After the break, Bauza came close to putting the result beyond doubt in the 58th minute but his close-range shot was well tipped round the post by Lonergan.

It was a mere stay of execution, though, as the same player tapped in a third 11 minutes later. Dyer supplied the killer pass from the right-hand side of the box and Bauza was left with the simplest of tasks.

Swansea continued to push and Angel Rangel forced another good save from Lonergan before Leon Britton shot wide from the edge of the box.

Tate found the bottom corner from 20 yards to complete the rout in the 87th minute before Chris Brown scored a consolation effort in the final minute of normal time.

Teams

Swansea De Vries, Williams, Tate, Monk, Rangel,Britton (Tudur-Jones 80), Pratley (Bauza 10), Gower, Gomez,Dyer, Scotland (Pintado 61).

Subs Not Used: Orlandi, Serran.

Booked: Rangel.

Goals: Gomez 2, Scotland 29, Bauza 69, Tate 87.

Preston Lonergan, Davidson (Nolan 7), Mawene, St. Ledger,Jones, Chaplow (Whaley 65), Nicholson, McKenna, Wallace,Parkin, Elliott (Brown 74).

Subs Not Used: Chris Neal, Hawley.

Booked: McKenna, Wallace, Mawene.

Goals: Brown 90.

Att: 14,774

Ref: Paul Gibbs (West Midlands).