1. Freestone
2. O'Leary
3. Cusack
4. Bound
5. Todd
6. Coates
7. Romo @
8. Jenkins *
9. Fabiano #
10. Verschave
11. Savarese

    ---

12. Roberts #77
13. Phillips *46
14. Mumford @77
15. Howard
16. Jones J

 Brentford

1. Smith
2. Powell
3. Theobald
4. Dobson
5. Lovett
6. Evans
7. Hutchinson
8. Folan
9. Ingimarsson
10. Charles
11. Owusu

    ---

12. Partridge
13. Williams
14. Graham
15. Somner
16. Julian

John Hollins finally got the mix right when the Swans slammed Brentford 6-0 at a deserted Vetch Field.

General consensus was that the crowd was around 1500 but the official figure was declared as 2002. If only 3 less had turned up, a crowd beginning with "1" would have been a very poor selling point.

First a bit of Hollinesque trivia: of the 3 players who got nominated for Man of the Match against Oxford, how many of the 3 did JH decide to leave out?

Swans lined up in a 3-5-2 formation

Freestone
O'Leary, Bound, Todd
Fabiano, Romo, Jenkins, Cusack, Coates
Savarese, Verschave

Swans started brightly and forced a right wing corner. Despite being marked by a 6'4" defender, the dimunitive Verschave found space to head powerfully home from Romo's cross.

Further shots from Romo and Fabiano all brought smart blocks from the overworked Brentford keeper. From another right wing delivery, Cusack rose at the far post and was unlucky to see his downward header prevented from crossing the line by the full back on the post. But it was O'Leary who was first to react to tuck the ball into the net to double Swansea's lead after 10 minutes.

The remainder of the first half was played out without much too excitement until during the minute added on, a smart lob from outside the box had Freestone crashing into his upright while chasing it. Fortunately, the ball cannoned over off the top of the bar.

Swansea came out for the second half with Phillips on for Jenkins and it was another right wing corner in the opening minutes, which saw goal number 3. Bound stooped at the near post to backflick the ball across to the back post where Cusack this time made no mistake.

It was party time at the Vetch and the question was how many we would get. But a reminder that there was some opposition when another shot smashed against the upright with Roger beaten. The rebound was seized upon by the Bees centre-forward but he was thwarted by a superb twisting tackle from Cusack which saw the ball safely cleared away for a corner.

The fourth goal was probably the best when a break from defence was fed out to the right. Romo advanced across the halfway line and played a diagonal ball along the floor into the path of Savarese. Instead of taking it on in his stride, he superbly dummied and let the ball run into the path of Jonatha Coates who transferred the ball onto his left from just outside the area and blasted the ball home.

Verschave who had been a livewire all night, tried to make it 5-0 when a cross from the left was met by his head after he twisted his body in mid air – but he was too far from goal to have an impact. The ball was cleared back out to the left and when it was he returned, from a better position, he repeated the same trick and was rewarded with a well-deserved 2nd.

The meagre crowd was in raptures – and all the team were called on to "give us a wave" – even the linesman and referee were invited to.

With just under a quarter of an hour left, Chris Todd got his first senior gaol for the club with a bullet header from another corner/cross.

When the final whistle went the jubilation was tangible – but it was a bitter-sweet moment when one realised that we were down and Brentford are more than likely staying up.

Player Ratings:
Roger – 6 nothing to do except watch the ball hit the woodwork twice
O'Leary – 7 no nonsense 100% effort only let down by his distribution
Bound – 7 back on form of old
Todd – 7 impressive and one of two centre backs to score!
Romo 6 – had a lot of the ball but wasted many crosses and passes
Cusack 7 – good game but a little off the pace in open play
Jenkins 6 – busy but no noticeable plus points
Fabiano 7 – busy but with some good runs and shots
Coates 8 – outstanding especially 2nd half
Verschave 8 – played as if he was trying to impress someone watching
Savarese 5 – contributed little apart from the sublime step over

Phillips 7 – got stuck in well
Roberts 6 – not on long enough
Mumford 6 – not on long enough

I expect a bigger turnout Saturday after this result but I do think the club should make the Merthyr cup match a free entry as a gesture of apology to the fans for the nonsense we've had to put up with this season.