1. Freestone
2. Price
3. Howard
4. Bound
5. Smith
6. Romo
7. Jenkins
8. Savarese
9. Watkin
10. Roberts
11. Price

    ---

12. Jones J
13. Mutton
14. Jones S
15. Casey
16. O'Leary

 Stoke

1. Muggleton
2. Hansson
3. Gudjonsson
4. Gunnarsson
5. Kavanagh
6. Thorne
7. Lightbourne
8. Dorigo #
9. O'Connor
10. Thomas @
11. Kippe

    ---

12. Ward
13. Clarke #45
14. Risom
15. Petty
16. Thordarson @64

The pre-match action on the streets of Swansea threatened to overshadow the organised contest that we had all come to see. After parking the car at the bottom end of Oxford Street, I felt like a single spermatozoa swimming against the tide of 200 strong crowd of Swansea "fans?" heading away from the town, no doubt in search of some Stoke fans. As it was pouring with rain, the explanation of 'out for an afternoon walk' would have convinced no one. It seems the police weren't convinced either and the street soon resounded to the clatter of horses hooves as the police made their pursuit of the crowd.

Safely ensconced in the Builders, it wasn't too long before further clashes were witnessed through the window. Some heavy policing resulted in a few fans seeking refuge back in the pub. Calm was returned when the mounted officers galloped off down the lane towards the Garibaldi where, no doubt, further confrontations had flared up.

Arriving in the Vetch, the inaudible tannoy system tried to give us the line-up. Unfortunately it failed in this respect and it made me wonder what would happen if it was needed to be used to give instructions during an emergency - would this be a breach of safety regulations?

When the team ran out, it was clear that JH had selected a much changed team from the one that last performed at the ground a fortnight earlier against Bury. Both new signings were included and Smith, Coates and Jenkins were also brought in to the starting line-up. One surprise was the omission of Boyd - not even a place on the bench, which makes me thinks he was rested after travelling back across the Atlantic.

Swans lined up as follows:-
Freestone
Price - Smith - Bound - Howard
Roberts - Jenkins - Romo - Coates
Savarese - Watkin

Subs: Jones J, Jones S, Mutton. O'Leary, Casey

Romo soon made his presence felt and looked an accomplished midfield player with his control and accurate passing. Savarese on the other hand took time to settle and looked very much like a cross between Bird and Watkin in his style of play. Long balls pumped toward him were a waste as his forte is not in this area.

Roberts looked busy wide right and had engaged Dorigo in a fascinating tussle before the latter was replaced at half time. As for chances on goal, there were none for Swansea - but the big Stoke side did look threatening when in Swansea's box.

Halt time arrived and the consensus was a fair 0-0 at that stage of the game.

Second half saw the rain continue to pour down and, with legs tiring, gaps soon started to open up for both sides. Price had a glorious opportunity when fed through at the edge of the box but his shot was closer to the corner flag than the goal.

Freestone was called into action and made a number of scrambles before Stoke wasted a gilt-edged opportunity on teh far post with two players coming in unmarked.

Good work down the right saw Price cross dangerously low, but the ball was cleared back to him by the Stoke defence. Quick as a flash put across a high return which the unmarked Savarese rose to meet with his head centre goal and head deftly down past the keeper into the net.

The crowd went wild and the taunting of the Stoke fans almost produced a pitch invasion by both sets of fans. The hostile atmosphere lifted both the crowd and subsequently the team and the singing was reminiscent of the FA Cup run of two seasons ago - absolutely first class atmosphere.

This may have been instrumental in Swansea's second when the Stoke centre half lost the ball on the edge of the box to present Steve Watkin with an open goal. Everyone in the ground thought that he would score - except Giovani Savarese - as it was he that was alert enough to react first to the keeper's parry of Watkin's shot.

Two goals on his debut was the dream start that he and we wanted and with only 10 minutes left, Swans looked to be home and dry (or wet rather). But from a corner, Lightbourne rose head and shoulders above everyone to claim what turned out to be a consolation - but not before and agonising last 6 minutes.

Romo was clear man of the match for the first half but faded a little in the second. Savarese may prove to be a prolific scorer but what these two signings have given John Hollins are OPTIONS - something we the fans have been saying for months. If Boyd or Watkin are unavailable, we no longer have to push Nick Cusack around the field like some multi-purpose filler as has been the case so far this season.

I suspect Steve Jones was unhappy at being left out and wouldn't be surprised to see him move to Cheltenham sooner rather than later if this continues.

An excellent overall performance with the missing defensive stability returning - at least for 88 minutes.