1. Freestone
2. Jones S
3. Howard
4. Bound
5. Smith
6. Cusack
7. Jenkins
8. Boyd
9. Watkin
10. Coates @
11. Price

    ---

12. Jones J
13. Phillips
14. Thomas @ (65)
15. Mutton
16. Roberts

 Brentford

1. Gottskalksson
2. Quinn @
3. Marshall
4. Evans
5. Mahon
6. Owusu
7. Scott #
8. Rowlands
9. Ingimarsson
10. Gibbs
11. McCammon *

    ---

12. Javary @ (27)
13. Dobson # (71)
14. Pinamonte * (80)
15. Smith
16. Kennedy

An excellent day out as paying guests of Brentford FC. Thanks to Mike Hynes who looked after us well and tended to our every need.

We arrived at the ground by 12:30 and passed several Jacks enjoying the London sunshine outside the pubs that surround the Griffin Park ground.

We were offered Buck's Fizz as we walked into their sponsors bar and a less than a pint later we were on a tour of the ground that took in the referee and linesmnen, the home and away dressing rooms and the police control centre. The tour and talk was made all the more interesting by the telling of the Cardiff City visit on Boxing Day 1998.

The players arrived as we got back from the tour and it wasn't difficult to spot from their faces which ones had been left out. A smiling Walter informed us that he was playing but Kris O'Leary was clearly gutted at not even making the bench. Alan Curtis had a "Hello Gar" as ever - the perfect gentleman.

While the players got changed, we tucked into a 3 course lunch of Prawn Salad, Sirloin Steak & Chips and strawberries and cream for after. Dai Optimistic & Work Head managed the chips but passed on the strawberries which he felt would undermine his healthy eating routine.

We were shown to our seats in the stand as the players came out to a rapturous reception from 6-700 Jacks behind the goal. Mike Lewis had a warm handshake as usual but Steve Hamer remained aloof from fraternising with the common people.

Hollins dropped O'Leary and replaced him with Boyd but positionally changing Boyd for Cusack up front.

Brentford started really well and for the first 10 minutes it was non-stop pressure - but without seriously troubling Roger. The net sum of their efforts at this time were 3 or 4 corners.

Swansea gradually played their way into the game and it was noticeable that Cusack was playing quite an attacking role despite him playing in his usual midfield position.

Price did get the ball into the net but the whistle had gone for offside before he shot. The chance came about when Walter picked the ball up wide in the right hand side of the box and turned back across towards the centre of goal. Losing his marker he played a nice forward ball along the floor to JJ but by this time the defence had moved out and up went the flag.

Brentford already had one midfielder pressed into emergency service in their back four and this total was doubled when their centre half had to go off with a head injury midway through the first half.

These delays meant that there was 5 minutes of time added on to the end of the half and in the last seconds of this, Price and Smith got into a muddle chasing the ball back. In the ned Smith left it to JJ to deal with but he was bundled off the ball at the edge of the area leaving a clear shot on goal. Fortunatley Roger had got his angles right and the shot shaved the outside of the right hand post.

Second half was edged by Swansea with Walter looking a threat when ever he managed to get ball to feet but it was Nick Cusack who came closest to giving us the lead. Some good play down the left saw the ball flicked on to Cusack whose diving header came back of the foot of the Brentford left hand post.

Coates pulled up a with a muscle pull somewhere in his rear and was immedately replaced by Thomas.

With both sides looking for a draw, Brentford gave us two more scares when a cracking volley from outside the box flew inches wide and a chance similar to the one spurned at the end by Wigan last week, also went begging.

A hard fought game that for the most part was not that pretty to watch - but a point away at Brentford was something everyone would have settled for this morning.

After the game it was back to the bar where we were shortly joined by the players and Curt. Roger came and sat with us and chatted for 10 mins, as did Jonesy, Coates and Stu Robs. Curt posed for a photo with Nick and also had a chat with us.

Nick Cusack, who was man of the match IMO, did let the side down somewhat when he refused to even shake hands because he feels the Internet is slagging the Swans off. Bad form mate - especially to fans who made a 400 mile round trip to support the team.

An excellent day out.

A rousing ovation from the travelling Jack faithful rewarded the exhausted Swans as they left the field at Griffin Park today. And well deserved it was, with the team, to a man, having battled tenaciously from the first whistle to gain a worthy point, which could easily have been three. It is only 16 months or so since almost the same Swans team trooped off from Griffin Park having been whacked 4 - 1. Today it was so different, with the Swans undoubtedly emerging as the team which played the better, more assured, football. Brentford produced their full parade of expensive and over-paid continental strikers with unpronouncable names, but none of them could make any impression on our defence!

At the start, though, it looked like a different story. Brentford's traditional attacking style saw them come at us like greyhounds in the first 15 minutes, particularly down the flanks where Howard and Jones struggled to cope with the pacy and physical Brentford attack. A period of intense pressure could easily have led to a goal. Owusu curled a shot over from the edge of the area, Bound cleared the ball from the six yard box after a goalmouth scramble, Freestone saved well from a deflected low shot, and Jason Smith produced a remarkable clearing header from almost under his own goal-post. The Swans fans didn't stop singing (excellent support today) throughout this - but fingernails were being chewed, and we really thought a thrashing could be on the cards.

But after weathering this storm, the ship suddenly settled. Our midfield, prompted by some controlled play from Cusack, began to get a foothold. Watkin and Boyd began to break wide intelligently, searching for balls to feet, and Price and Coates slowly managed to prise a little bit of space on the flanks, ably supported by Jones and Howard who sought to get forward at every opportunity. Initially, this created very little by way of chances, but as the half progressed, this controlled and well-desciplined domination of possession became our best form of defence. Our only clear cut opportunity of the first half came after 15 minutes when Price found himself in space at the edge of the area after some tenacious work from Boyd. His low shot just evaded Watkin and the far post. We had the ball in the net after Boyd played Price through, but the offside flag was raised. Late in the half some good work from Coates almost saw Boyd through on goal, but a defender intervened, and another cross from Coates found Price at the near post, but his flicked header was well wide. We nearly contrived to undo our good work in first half injury time, when Price needlessly conceded a free kick just outside the area, which Paul Evans whipped just wide.

In the second half it is no exaggeration to say that we outplayed Brentford in footballing terms. For the first half an hour or so they created nothing apart from one weak header from Owusu. The Swans forged forward, with Boyd and Watkin holding the ball up well and looking threatening with the ball at their feet. Price caused the Bees defence a lot of problems with his mazy running, and Cusack supported the attack with some neat touches and headed flicks-on. These three combined to create our best chance of the half, with Watkin laying the ball off to Cusack whose low drive was comfortably saved. A dazzling run from Boyd then saw him burst into the penalty area from the left, but he dragged his shot well wide. A cross from Boyd on the left found the head of Price, but Watkin couldn't connect with the nod back. And one flowing move from midfield almost saw Cusack break through, but a lack of communication between him and Boyd saw the move fizzle out. But our best moment came when Jason Smith came forward for a corner, signalled to Lee Jenkins to play it to his head, and flicked the ball on to Cusack whose diving header agonisingly came back off the post. At this point we felt it was not going to be three points, and the team visibly withdrew into its shell. In the last fifteen minutes Brentford came forward, but again created no serious chances, their best effort being a low shot from Scott and a long range volley from Evans.

Player scores:
Freestone - 8 confident and steady.
Jones - 8 Supported the attack well and tackled with real ferocity.
Howard - 8 As above - really improving going forward.
Smith - 9 not only good in the air, but also terrific positionally and produced a couple of excellent tackles in dangerous situations.
Bound 8 Stout as ever, and made one timely clearance (very nice to meet his Mum in the stand today too!)
Coates - 7 100% improved on last week - put himself about, but still not enough crosses.
Price - 8 Really had a tilt at them down our right, and some dangerous running almost created some openings for Watkin and Boyd. Not enough crosses through.
Cusack - 9 Back in his rightful place in midfield he played a box to box game today, dropping back to support Smith and Bound, and then getting forward to act as link man with the attack. If his header had gone in, it would have been perfect. Well done Nick!
Jenkins - 7 A much improved performance from Lee, who ably supported Cusack in midfield, playing the "psycho" role.
Watkin - 7 Showed some nice touches and caused plenty of headaches, but didn't fashion a chance for himself.
Boyd - 7 As above, but one or two pieces of sublime skill.
Thomas (for Coates) - 7 Battled well in his traditional centre midfield berth.

Summary - the discipline and organisational qualities of this team are there for all to see. So is the character and commitment. All of this with plenty of credit to JH and AC. Today we silenced a home crowd that was expecting a stroll, and made an expensively assembled team look very mediocre indeed. 46 0-0 draws will not be good enough, and I am sure everyone is aware of of what is needed, but on today's evidence, we are no-one's pushovers, and when the Watkin-Boyd understanding begins to click...who knows!

The first ten minutes were ominous with the ball flying around the Swans goal. Owusu was causing a lot of problems and Brentford were getting down our flanks. A goal mouth scramble where 4 or 5 ended on the floor near Rogers post was just scrambled away. An Owusu move led to the ball flashing past Roger's far post.

Swansea managed to get their feet on the ball a little after that. Walter Boyd was fit to play and a great roar accompanied his name being read out. He caused havoc on a couple of occasions - one leading to Price putting the ball in the net - but offside. Swans gradually took control and although they were not looking dangerous they played some good football.

Price and Steve Jones on the right, Coates and Matthew Howard on the left were linking well. Lee Jenkins and Walter provided the links as the team strung together some great passing moves. But still lacked the finishing ball.

As half time approached Brentford were awarded a free kick 5 yards outside the box. The wall was a yard too far to the left and the ball flew about a foot past the post with Roger nowhere. Roger gave one of his faces that confirmed it was a bit too close.

A moment later Coates looked as if he was unfairly pushed off the ball and as three Brentord players steamed over the half way line, with Coates in chase, one of them inexplicable fell over and his head seemed to collide with Coates foot. This incensed the Brentford crowd who'd been pretty quiet till then but the officials had seen nothing wrong. So half time came with a feeling that, although down on the shots count this was a game that could be won.

The second half was a bit of a stalemate. Bound and Price had by now worked out how to cope with Owusu and co and Brentford seemed to run out of ideas. Several trade mark Jason Price runs into the box came to nothing. Walter was still tantalising but unable to link decisively with Watkin and Cusack.

Ten minutes from the end Swans won a corner on their left. Smith indicated he wanted the ball at the front post and Jenkins found him perfectly. Spinning in the air Smith headed the ball firmly down and it bounced up for Cusack to head firmly for goal from 6 yards. It looked bound for the corner with the keeper well beaten but the spin did not bite and the ball came back of the post.

The usual heart pumping moments at the end as Brentford threw in a last effort but 0-0 it was.

The team were warmly applauded off the pitch and deservedly so. A more convincing performance than Wigan. Difficult to pick a man of the match as it was a good all round effort - Price, Smith, Boyd are all candidates together with Roger and even Cusack who won a fair amount in the air.

The crowd was good with 1,000 or so easily outshouting the home fans. "Run from the Turkish" featured again together with some concentrated baiting of a portly bloke who'd gone apopleptic over the Coates incident. A good day - well done to the team. It gives encouragement but I'd like to see some team strengthening for insurance. Brentford were a cut above the standard Div 3 side but their fans were not at all happy. Expect them to finish below the Swans this season on this form.

A perfect day for football,the sun shone throughout and about 800-1000 Swans made the journey today all of whom were in fine voice very often out singing the home supporters.

The players performances as I saw it today.

Roger Freestone: Superbly commanding in the air catching and holding every cross that came in except one clean punched clearance.Roger always has to give us at least one heart murmour every match and today was no exception.For some unknown reason he decided to dribble the ball around a Brentford attacker and stumbled in doing so hand balling outside the box but the ref adjudged it to be accidental. 8/10

Michael Howard. Another quiet game but cleared effectively when the need arose. 6/10

Steve Jones. Gets better each game, he is proving a quality player and dealt faultlessly with anything that came his way. He also looked good when coming forward although he was more restricted than last week against Wigan. 7/10

Matthew Bound. Awesome again Matt is sheer quality and coped superbly with the Brentford front two who were both over 6 foot and not without pace. 8/10

Jason Smith. I don't think I will see a better centre half than him in this division he had to battle hard today and won everything in the air. He is also our only hope of of a headed goal at set pieces. My heart was in my mouth when he went down after a fairly hard challenge because without him today we may well have conceded a goal. 8/10

Lee Jenkins. Sorry but this guy is not 2nd division material, he is 2 yards too slow and shows no confidence when in possesion a very poor game today showing no flair or creativity. 4/10

Jason Price. This guy ran his heart out today he must be one of the fittest players in this division.His pace is electric, he battled for everything today and was first to the ball in most cases.He had a good shot that went just wide in the first half. All Jason needs now is to improve his first touch and he will dominate midfields this year. 8/10

Nick Cusack. Always reliable without ever being outstanding, it was good to see him in his familiar central midfield position. Nick had a diving header touch the post in the second half. 7/10

Jonathan Coates. Absolutely rubbish today. He didn't get into the game at all and showed no interest. Substituted for Martin Thomas in the second half after pulling up with what looked like his hamstring. I believe Hollins would have left him sun bathing all day long if the substitution hadn't been forced on him. 2/10

Steve Watkin. Worked hard as he always does but was largely inaffective and didn't really combine with Walter as I had hoped he would. 5/10

Walter Boyd. Certainly made our attack look a bit more threatening today. His unpredictability is his greatest asset and he showed some beautiful touches today but I think he needs another match to sharpen him up a bit. 6/10

Martin Thomas. The only sub used but didn't really make an impact on the game. 5/10

CONCLUSION