Cheltenham
Book
Griffin
Duff
Bank
Victory
Williams
Yates
Howells
Grayson
Alsop
Naylor

On a bitterly cold day, it was one of the nearest away games which drew a travelling support of around 800 to Cheltenham. Many would have travelled due to the excellent result at Exeter, and the team the same apart from Williams replacing the injured Sidibe.

The opening exchanges were like boxers sizing each other up with both teams probing without any chances on goal. Naylor looked dangerous feeding off ex Swan Julian Alsop, who accepted the banter from the Swans fans with a smile. On 5 mins our first real attack found Watkin on the edge of the Cheltenham area, he passed to the oncoming Williams outside the area, centre goal, who took one step and fired into the left corner. There was a great deal of commitment from both sides, but after saying that Naylor had looked dangerous earlier, he started to be “professional” and tried to win free kicks, instead of using his undoubted talent. After 12 minutes the Swans fans were again up in the air, as after a good move on the left and a blocked shot, Brodie was first to react, beating Book to the ball, to open his account for the Swans and putting us 2-0 up. The effort put in by the team, resulted in Cheltenham not causing us too many problems, with many touches and blocks keeping chances to weak efforts from outside the box. The only danger being from Alsops height.

Half time came with us going in comfortably holding a 2-0 lead, which with a better finish from Watkin who blazed over the bar, could have been 3. The only doubt at half time was that Cheltenham had come back from 2-0 at the Vetch to draw 2-2 earlier in the season.

As expected Cheltenham came out all guns firing, but again with the effort shown by the team, was nullified and the game settled down. On 60 mins with no apparent danger Howard underhit a backpass allowing Alsop in, going wide of Rog and placing an angled shot into the net. From the far end it did seem as if Rog had gone too ground a bit to early against twinkle toes Jules. Before we had time to settle another ball flicked on by Alsop found Naylor in a similar position, the result being the same and it was 2-2. For most of the rest of the second half Cheltenham played pressure football using Alsops height as the outlet for most of their attacks, with many last ditch clearances keeping the scores level. With 5 minutes being added we had one last scare when the defence opened up with Rog saving well. The only Swans substitution was Lacey replacing Coates after the scores were level.

The team had played well, although did lose midfield control in the second half, allowing Cheltenham time to place their passes on target. The defence played well especially after early roastings given by Rog to O’Leary & Mumford. When you think that it was a makeshift formation against a recognised attack they performed wonders. Sharp did find himself the wrong side against Alsop on many occasions, but he will not find himself up against such an awkward customer many more times in this division. Evans battled well, but was left unprotected when Victory joined in the attacks down their left. Cusack played a captains role with many timely interceptions and clearances. We will miss Sidibe as due to age Williams is not a 90min player, but can be an excellent sub or one half player.

While the result was disapointing, after being 2 up, we would quite happily have taken a draw at the start of the game, and keeps the run going 2 wins and 2 draws. The team showed their appreciation at the end by applauding the fans, and they were joined by Julian Alsop showing that he still has feelings for the Swans

It was an unfortunate sense of deja vu for the travelling Jack faithful today, as for the second time this season a Cheltenham side, outplayed in the first half, clawed back a 2 goal deficit to salvage a point. But whereas in the home fixture earlier this season, the Swans would have been bitterly disappointed not to have gained all three points, yesterday it was the home side that regretted not securing the win.

The Swans kept faith with the team that had comprehensively dismantled Exeter on Boxing Day, with exception of the injured Sidibe being replaced up front by John Williams, alongside Steve Watkin. Brodie buzzed behind them in an advanced midfield role, with Cusack and Coates sitting behind. Evans and Howard formed the wing back pairing, with a centre back trio of Mumford, O'Leary and Sharpe, who was given the awesome duty of marking big Jules.

The Swans picked up where they left off at Exeter, looking extremely bright in the early stages, particularly through the industrious linking play of Steve Brodie. Howard and Evans supported the attacks well from the flanks, and there was plenty of inventiveness and neat interplay from the Swans. But it was a route 1 goal that gave them the lead on five minutes, when a punt from Freeston was headed on by Watkin to Williams, who swivelled and struck a firm low shot into the far corner. A fine strike to give us an excellent start. On 12 minutes the 800 or so travelling Jacks were sent into ecstasy by a second, brilliantly worked, Swans goal. This time the ball was worked swiftly and cleverly through the midfield in a move which involved Coates and Howard, before the ball was eventually slipped through to Steve Brodie who finished neatly from close range. A few minutes later we had another great chance to wrap it up - a fine near post cross from Howard was met on the run by Watkin, whose left foot volley cleared the bar.

"Skint but we're winning, we maybe skint but we're winning" came the cry from the travelling Jack army - five unanswered away goals in two games...we must have been dreaming! Surely this could not continue! Sadly, we were right, but for the rest of the first half it appeared that the three points would be a cakewalk. There was plenty of huff and puff from the home side, who had a lot of possession. They made plenty of headway down the flanks, and looked dangerous through their overlapping full back Jamie Victory. But in reality, all their attacks were repelled with relative ease by a tenacious and well organised Swans defence. Alsop lost his marker a couple of times and had a couple of weak efforts on goal, and another cross from Victory had Freestone scuttling across his goal. but never did we feel that our lead was under any sort of threat. We continued to counter attack well, and on 40 minutes another fluent move saw Brodie released on the left side of the penalty area. He tried to set up the unmarked Watkin for what surely would have been a clinching goal, but a defender intercepted and cleared for a corner. Little did we know at this point, when our control of the game was total, that this was to be our last serious threat on goal.

The half time queues for the freezing portaloos and the tiny burger van reminded us of what New Year footie at a recently non-league ground is all about. Credit to Cheltenham though, that they are making improvements to the away end, including the development of some proper toilets...not a minute overdue! By now it was so cold that most of the visiting fans had lost touch with their feet, and the "Jump up if you hate Cardiff" song suddenly became strangely appealing, if only as a mechanism for getting the circulation going. Surely the boys were going to reward our stoicism with a couple more goals in the second half - certainly Tony and Michael seemed to think so!

Unfortunately, the second half brought us seriously down to earth. From the first minute we suddenly seemed off the pace, as a thoroughly re-enervated home side threw the kitchen sink at us (or at least, Julian Alsop at every opportunity). Their direct and aggressive style had us scampering in defence, and Freestone had make two smart saves from Naylor to keep our lead intact. there was increasing unease among the Jack faithful as the Swans seemed unable to retain possession - Williams being the main culprit, as some of his challenges seemed half-hearted at best. On 58 minutes the alarm bells really began to ring when an excellent shot from Grayson rattled the cross bar with Freestone well beaten. The scare failed to shake up the Swans and on 60 minutes a lose back pass from Howard gifted Alsop with a golden chance - showing uncharacteristic composure, he rounded Freestone and slotted into an empty net. the self destruct process was complete a minute later when another flick on from Alsop found Naylor, who beat the advancing freestone to the ball and lobbed him from the edge of the box - a fine equaliser and by that stage well deserved.

We feared the worst at this point, but to be fair the Swans kept their shape and tried to battle their way back into the game. We managed to get a fair bit of possession, mainly through the darting runs of Steve Brodie, but with Williams' legs gone by this stage, and Watkin struggling to get hold of the ball, we failed to create any clear cut chances, our best effort being a volley wide by Cusack on 76 minutes. Surprisingly the home side were reluctant to commit too many players forward to press home their advantage, and despite some late pressure the threatened third goal never really looked like coming until Freestone was forced into a smart save late in injury time. At the final whistle it had be viewed as a point salvaged rather than two lost, and in truth, the game reminded us that without the blistering pace of Sidibe we remain very limited in our attacking options.

Freestone - 7 Commanded the box well, though arguably could have prevented the second goal.
Evans - 6 Some great support to the attacks, but struggled to cope with the overlapping full back.
Mumford - 8 Our best defender on the day
Sharp - 7 For the most part coped well with Alsop
O'Leary - 7 Mobile and tenacious - some good late clearances, but limited in the air.
Howard - 6 Good in attack, but gifted the first goal.
Brodie - 8 Supported the front two well, with some intelligent running and link play; thoroughly deserved his goal.
Cusack - 7 A sound performance in the middle of the park; playing well at the moment
Coates - 6 Hot and cold
Watkin - 6 Played much of the game with his back to goal and failed to really influence it
Williams - 6 Took his goal well, but thereafter failed to impress.
Lacey - Late appearance as sub.