1. Freestone
2. Price
3. Howard
4. Cusack
5. Bound
6. Romo
7. Jenkins
8. Lacey
9. Verschave #
10. Fabiano
11. Watkin

    ---

12. Jones J
13. Boyd
14. Thomas # 70
15. Phillips
16. Morgan

 Northampton Town

1. Welch
2. Whitley
3. Frain
4. Sampson
5. Green
6. Nicholson
7. Hunt
8. Hope
9. Morrow
10. Gabbiadini
11. Forrester

    ---

12. Ferguson
13. Hodge
14. Sollitt
15. Hughes
16. Thompson

Gutted! This was the only way that 120 or so Jack who braved this freezing night could define their feelings at the end. A couple of minutes away from holding on to a deserved three points, and under no significant pressure from a home side that had posed no great threat, it all came apart in two horrible minutes. That's been this season though - for a variety of reasons, nothing has gone right. And if we had some luck last year, it has certianly deserted us this.

It was a bright, youthful and experimental Swans side that began the game, the line-up dictated mainly by injury and suspension, with Roberts, Smith, Savarese, O'Leary and Jones all absentees for various reasons. This resulted in a fluid 3 - 5 - 2 formation, with Bound, Howard and Price making up a back three, which sat behind a midfield comprising Jenkins, Lacey, Romo, Cusack and Fabiano (in a very roving role) and Verschave and Watkin up front. And it was a formula which, from the first whistle, seemed to have struck some success. Despite an early scare when Forrester fired over the bar, it was the Swans who settled best to the task, playing neat one touch passing football through the midfield, and utilising the searching runs of Fabiano and Verschave, ably suppported by some nice touches from Romo and Lacey and some real industry from Jenkins. Indeed it was Jenks who contrived our first shot on goal, which he fired over the bar after 9 minutes. Then in the 11th minute this early entreprise almost brought us the lead, when a great through ball from Romo found Verschave, who finished neatly only to be flagged offside.

The home side seemed shell shocked by our spirit and enterprise, and could create very little as they found themselves continuously closed down by our very enervated midfield. Their main threat was through the skilful and pacy running of Jamie Forrester, who nearly gave them the lead with a close range header which flashed wide after 26 minutes. Verschave responded with a shot from distance which cleared the bar, and came close again shortly after from a flicked-on corner. During this period, the quality football was spoiled a little by a stupid dust-up between Lacey and our old friend John Frain, which rightly saw them both booked by referee Graham Poll.

On the 36th minute there was cause for great optimism among the Swans contingent when Frain blatantly tripped Cusack on the edge of the area. Mr Poll, known for his card-brandishing abilities, decided to bottle the obvious booking that the offence deserved, and we were denied the opportunity of waving our old friend Frain towards his early bath. Instead, Romo curled the free kick straight into the arms of keeper, Welch.

But we were not long denied the lead we deserved. Fabiano created the opportunity with another excellent run down the right. His cross was fumbled by Welch, and somehow found its way back to Fabiano who lashed the ball home. A minute later some more great work from the Frenchman led to a Swans corner, which Cusack almost forced home. A deserved half time lead, driven by constructive, skilful and determined football which made a mockery of our league position.

And the second half began in similar vein, with Romo and Fabiano again linking up well down our right side, and for the first 15 minutes, ably supported by Jenkins and Lacey in particular, causing all sorts of difficulties for the home defence. Our best move came in the 47th minute when some excellent approach work set up Romo for a low drive which was well saved by Welch. However, despite some quality crosses into the box, there was no-one with the physical presence to finish them off, and it left us wondering what difference Savarese might have made to the game, as Verschave and Watkin tired.

In the last half an hour the home side began to gain more territory and more of the game as the Swans visibly began to tire. Cusack dropped back to a centre half role to give us a more balanced 4 - 4 - 2 look, but this invited more pressure, and we saw good efforts from Frain (twice) and Gabbiadini. The introduction of ex-Swan John Hodge gave us even more difficulties, and left us wondering why we had ever dispensed with his skills. He delivered a series of excellent right wing crosses which our defence did well to cope with, and produced one great strike on goal which just cleared out cross bar. But as we approached the final minutes it was fair to say that we had defended our lines well and with very few real scares.

But then in the 43rd minute a dubious free kick awarded to the home side was hoisted into the area and somehow defender Ian Sampson managed to evade several defenders and get his head to the ball to nod it into the corner. A soft goal which seemed to have denied us two points. But worse was to come. Another hoisted ball towards Gabbiadini saw the ex-Sunderland man control the ball brilliantly and hit a vicious strike past the depairing dive of Freestone to give the home side a desperate win. The Swans were shellshoked and devastated, and the Swans fans could barely raise another song. At the final whistle the team got a good ovation from the Jack support, which was well deserved, but the players could not hide their disappointment. The home fans, barely audible throughout (as usual) were suddenly and unexpectedly enervated into some singing, and decided to tell us that we are going down. Save your breath Cobblers, we know!

Freestone - 7 no real saves to make but spilled a couple of crosses; little chance with the goals.
Price - 6 Battled hard, but rather limited in his defensive role.
Bound - 8 Performed well throughout; very solid.
Howard - 7 coped well for most of the game, but struggled with Hodge.
Jenkins - 7 A great first half
Romo - 7 Some great touches, and a very influential first half; faded in the last half hour
Lacey - 7 A good performance throughout, with some good distribution, but also faded
Cusack - 7 Did well in both positions.
Fabiano - 9 Simply breathtaking first half and got the goal he deserved - great running, good close control and some great wing play. Tired in the last quarter.
Verschave - 8 A very strong first hour; also tired in last half hour.
Watkin - 6 Dangerous first half, but lost his way in the second.
Thomas - 6 was brought on to steady the midfield, and battled well.

Little to add in summary, except that this just summed up our season. No matter how well or how badly we play it still seems to go pear-shaped. It no doubt leaves us all wondering how we can go on from here. Ironically, we looked today to have the makings of a good side, with plenty of skill and flair on display, and a number of good players out of the team. The big question, though, is will this team ever get the chance to fulfil itself, or will we be seeing a major exodus, and not just of the loan players. Time will tell. Roll on Gigg Lane!

It's not been often this season that I have felt the urge to write anything about the side, but this game just summed up our one season back in the second division. It has to be said as our hardy bunch took to the Platinum bar in the main stand, it was only to take part in a few beers and witness what we believed was going to be another defeat. Smith, Savarese and O'Leary out and the other long list of injuries surely meant we were on for a caning ?

How wrong we were, surrounded by Northmptons finest supporters and amidst the cries of " Welsh mongrels " and sundry other fine expletives we took control and created a passing game on a decent pitch which only confirmed the Vetch Field turf is not to our liking. Of course this is down to money and the idiot running the club won't part with any. ( see i'm off already )

Fabiano took the game to Northampton and with Romo and Verschave made countless probing runs down their right flank, and Fabiano was rewarded with a well executed shot putting us ahead and deservedly so. Northampton didn't show at all in the first half. All round we looked good and Steve Watkin was very busy up front, challenging and chasing. I have to say at half time it looked very good indeed and even the morons around us had shut up, based loosely on being told to do so and the fact their team were looking very poor indeed.

The second half saw us join the rest of The MAGS behind the goal, and probably this was the best move as I don't think it would have been right to have to witness the final few minutes amongst the shoe makers. Simply we failed to hammer the nail in to the coffin, we gave the ball away too much compliments of Lacey and Watkin, and the rest of the side spent much of the time chasing after these two individuals mistakes. With fifteen minutes to go John Hodge came on, had he been wearing a white shirt again we would have won the game. He ripped Howard apart and supplied four very decent crosses which on other days would have been rewarded. I spoke to him before the game and he said " I enjoyed it at Swansea, I didn't want to go " Now where have we heard that recently ? He also recalled the time, after a MAGS drinking mens night out :-) he took forty of our very drunken members in to a Gloucester night club and created mayhem ! A top bloke, and didn't deserve the stick he got from the 150 or so behind the goal.

The first goal was a result of fairly poor positioning from Roger, but the ball should have been cleared, we simply failed to do what we had done all night. Get rid of the ball. Jason Price looked truely gutted when the ball hit the net, he had played extremely well all night. A point was okay but Howards weak defending from a deep and wayward cross let in Gabbiadini and the game was over. Two killer goals in two minutes sums up our season, with performances like this and still losing we are doomed to relegation. That's now a sure certainty.

And still Hollins remains, and remain he will do until someone has the courage to boot his backside all the way back down the M4. He has had his chance and failed, so lets finish the season without him.

And to cap it all there's rumours of a ginger bloke around the corner, the only one I saw was from Cheltenham, and he hasn't got five bob spare for chips ..........

I'm gutted

With again injuries and suspensions, the team nearly picked itself. Rog in goal a back three of Price Bound & Howard, 5 midfield of Jenkins, Romo, Cusack, Fabiano and Lacey with Watkin & Verschave up front.

Northampton opened the brighter and put us under a little pressure for the first ten minutes and then we took over and bossed the rest of the half without any clear-cut chances from both teams. This of course was apart from our goal which gave us a 1-0 lead at half-time. There was a couple of half chances inside the area blocked by defenders until a loose ball fell to Fabiano who drilled a neat low shot into the net.

Only one real incident of note was when Lacey thought we had a throw and tried to wrestle the ball from Frame who fell like a ton of bricks, resulting in the usual hand bags and a booking for both players. The Swans played some very neat football especially the three French players, but everyone had contributed to a well-deserved lead after that shaky opening.

The second half was very similar with us more than matching the Cobblers. We were still holding our own with players not giving Northampton the time on the ball. The only worrying aspect was that we were now starting to defend deeper. The turning point came with the introduction of ex Swan John Hodge about half way through the second half. Although carrying a bit of weight he still showed some nifty footwork and got in a few telling crosses. Pressure was mounting with tired legs starting to tell. Thomas replaced Verschave to bolster midfield, but the inevitable came when we looked as if time was to be on our side. A sickening equaliser minutes from the end and before that had sunk in they got their second. Both goals coming from hopeful crosses into a crowded area.

Football can be a cruel game but each player can hold his head high as although there were a few silly mistakes, each had earned the applause of the fans tonight. No criticism they had played to the best of their ability and we can ask nothing more.

The sickening gut twisting feeling is that yet again we have played a team on the edge of the play-offs and on the day have matched them. We were fielding a weakened team and with a couple of regulars who knows we may have got all 3 points.

With displays like this at least we will be relegated showing some pride. With the addition NOW of the 2 experienced players we all cry for, we could even run staying up a close thing.

A crowd of 4300 was swelled by 130-140 fans who although not singing continuously showed throughout that they were fully behind the team

To finish on a phrase we have already used

FOOTBALL IS A CRUEL GAME the players deserved more tonight .

It now 30 mins after the end of a game, a game which just sent me into oblivion.

On a cold evening, with a very subdued crowd, about 120 Jacks welcomed the team to Northampton. I was expecting a defeat from the start, even before the whistle had blown for the start, such is the depression amongst many.

What I then saw, just knocked me for six. A Swansea side, with such skill in terms of the passing and opportunities.

From the opening 10 mins which saw shots go just wide and a disallowed goal for offside.

The Northampton team just could not break down the Swansea attacks. I was not expecting such a storm of play without Gio Savarese. The amazing Verschave and Fabiano linked up well and the speed and skill of these players is something to be watched in wonder.

At 38 mins, we finally saw the hard work pay off. Fabiano slotting away a goal in the right hand corner which sent the Jacks wild and revenge was in sight. (I've never forgiven them for Wembley 97')

For 80 mins, the Swans dominated the match and should have been deserved winners, we just seemed to loose it in the final 10 mins. A substitution, Thomas on for Verschave, which made sense in defending our lead. Northampton were hungry to try and equalise and a barrage of attacks were experienced. Watkin was just not making the connection up front and we resorted to just wasting time by hoofing it up field.

With only 1 minute to go, I just had this feeling that we were going to give it away, a cross from the left found about 5 Northanmpton players inside the 6 yeard box. The enevitable happended and one head made a connection, more of a graze and the ball found the net. Total disbelief from the Jacks.

Maybe we could just hold for the draw and be satisfied. Again the onslaught from the Cobblers, created a cross from the right and a first time hit from an acute angle, gave Gabiadinni his one and only effort in the whole match, a resounding winner. The goal was well taken, but I almost cried with players who were just devastated and their faces showed it all.

This was a robbery of the first degree. It ranks up there with Wembley 97. How can a team play so well, loose in such circumstances. There was fight in everyone until the dying minute. Stupid mistakes cost us this game and has probably sealed out eventual fate.