1. Freestone
2. Price @
3. Howard
4. Cusack #
5. Bound
6. Todd
7. Jenkins
8. Phillips
9. Watkin
10. Savarese
11. Fabiano

    ---

12. Jones J
13. Boyd #77
14. Romo
15. Roberts @61
16. Lacey

 Bristol Rovers

1. Culkin
2. Thomson
3. Foster
4. S Jones
5. Challis
6. Pethick
7. Wilson
8. Hogg
9. Astafjevs
10. Ellington
11. Lee

    ---

12. O'Reilly
13. Andreasson
14. Gall
15. Foran
16. Owusu

Dai Smith and I made an 11th hour decision to go to Tractorville - mainly thanks to the offer of tickets from Super Stu.

We sat 2 feet in front of Leighton James' commentary position so that we had the same view as him.

The pitch was dreadful - the corner flags had triangles of green grass - the rest of the pitch was a rectangle of sand. In the middle of the rectangle of sand, was rectangle of mud where some newly laid turf had been.

On the field Hollins made changes - going for dog qualities rather than silky skills. Todd came in for the injured O'Leary to partner Matt Bound in the back four.

Romo and Lacey were dropped to the bench and replaced by Gareth Phillips and Lee Jenkins.

The remainder of the team remained unchanged.

We were first to threaten with a shot from the edge of the box from Gareth Phillips, but after 7 mins or so we were 1-0 down when 2 or 3 players were out-muscled for the ball (theme of the afternoon) to present the Rovers forward with a simple shooting opportunity.

Rovers dominated the first half and Roger had a few shaky moments aided and abetted by poor defending.

At half time I engaged Leighton James in conversation to see what his view of the game was. It was much in line with my assessment - but these comments were not matched by his radio report where he had us the better team.

Second half we did take the game to them, but never tested their keeper with all our better efforts flashing wide of the goal.

Rovers should have gone 2-0 up when their forward missed an open goal after being let in by the exposed Todd.

Cue the 483 travelling Swans to sing "Sign him up".

JH took Price off for Roberts (when both Dai and I independently decided that Fabiano should have been replaced) and later he brought Boyd on for Cusack who looked to have tweaked a hamstring.

Late pressure at both ends led to an exciting finsish - but no further goals.

In summary, a better performance from Swansea who at least tried but were too easily pushed off the ball.

JH post match interview was particularly bristly - again his assessment at odds with what we'd seen.

Player ratings:
Freestone - 6 Very shaky first 15 minutes
Howard - 6 Was give a torrid time first half
Bound - 8 Clear man of the match for Swansea
Todd - 5 Inexperience cruelly exposed us on a number of occasions - but to his credit, did not hide away
Price - 6 struggled to find a role
Jenkins - 6 picked for battling qualities, but often 2nd best in one to one battles
Phillips - 6 covered some ground but let down by poor distribution
Cusack - 6 reasonable Cus type performance before going off with a hamstring pull
Fabiano - 6 flattered to deceive - nearly all his good work ended with misplaced passes
Savarese - 5 still jet-lagged from South America?
Watkin - 7 held the ball up well in the 2nd half and made some good lay-offs
Roberts - 6 this surface did not suit Stuart. Still managed to get in some good crosses though
Boyd - 5 his red boots were still shiny when he came off, To be serious, he hasn't played for months and to expect him to do something with 10 minutes to go is ludicrous

One-dimensional, lacking in ideas, and totally reliant on the long ball....that was Bristol Rovers. As for the Swans, well, they created half a dozen very decent chances and really should have buried this mediocre opposition. But the pattern of this nightmare season continued as we once again flattered to deceive.

We stuck with the increasingly familiar 3 -5 2 formation. Today Bound, Todd and Howard made up the back three, with Price (right) and Jenkins (left) in the wing back roles. Cusack, Phillips and Fabiano were the midfield trio while Watkin partnered Savarese up-front. And it was the Venezuelan who got the first chance of the game after just a couple of minutes, when an excellent Howard cross was touched into his path by Watkin, only for Gio to fluff his shot from 12 yards. A few minutes later a fluent move resulted in a low shot from Phillips which was well saved. A bright start from the Swans, as Bristol failed to find first gear. But the self destruct factor soon came into play, as on 10 minutes a cluster of Swans defenders failed to get a meaningful tackle in to break up an attack, and the ball broke to Hogg, who defied his foot and mouth potential to give the visitors an easy lead.

Plenty of huff and puff followed from Bristol, but apart from a couple of dangerous crosses which our defence made ard work of, they failed to create another clear cut chance in the half. Instead it was the Swans, playing some neat football, who fashioned the better opportunities, mainly resulting from the excellent midfield work of Fabiano, and plenty of industry from Jenkins and Phillips. Our best move culminated in a close Watkin header which he sent straight into the arms of the keeper, when perhaps he should have done better. There were also a couple of more wayward efforts from Watkin, but his hard work continued to give the home side problems. The half time whistle left us with real hope that we could turn this one around.

At half time, the rain, which had begun shortly before kick off, continued to torrent down, soaking the 500 or so Swans contingent who occupied the only completely uncovered part of the ground. It also made for increasingly worsening conditions, and the second half was always going to be something of a lottery. But again the Swans made the brighter start, with Fabiano playing Watkin through for a low strike on goal which was blocked for a corner. Soon after there were two good efforts from Bound - the first a header which was cleared off the line, and the second and slightly scuffed shot which was comfortably saved. But as the conditions deteriorated, so too did our composure, and an error from Howard nearly allowed the home side to increase their lead, but instead the Bristol striker blasted his shot wide of an open goal, with their first clear cut chance of the second half. A couple of minutes later though, another similar chance fell their way, but this time some last ditch defending saved the day.

We continued to work hard, and two decent chances fell to the industrious Fabiano, but on both occasions he flashed his low drives wide of the goal - on the first occasion it was so close that we were on the verge of cheering a goal. Roberts replacved Price in an effort to add more zest to the attack, and he immediately made an impact when his swirling crossed forced the keeper to tip the ball over the bar. But the last 20 minutes was a disappointment. We lost our composure and our control, and the home side were able to defend their three points with relative ease. The late introduction of Walter Boyd, prompted mainly be the chanting of the Jack crowd, did little to unsettle the home defence. In the end it was another poor result which could, and probably should, have been very different.

Freestone - 8 No chance with the goal and otherwise pretty much untestested.
Howard - 6 Some panicky defending in an uncomfortable position for him
Bound - 7 Held the defence together.
Todd - 7 A sound effort from a promising youngster; needs to develop his distribution.
Price - 6 Ungainly going forward, and made little impact, but battled hard.
Jenkins - 7 A good first half; worked well with Fabiano.
Phillips - 7 Battled very hard; reminiscent of Martin Thomas.
Cusack - 5 We needed him to control the game, but he exerted very little influence.
Fabiano - 7 Faded late on, but had a great first hour; some lovely skills and a terrific work rate.
Savarese - 5 Looked rather lacklustre and missed his one clear chance.
Watkin - 8 Played a good link man role today and fashioned several pots at goal.
Roberts - 7 A decent effort, though not really enough time.
Boyd - 6 A couple of good runs.