1. Freestone
2. Jenkins
3. Howard
4. Bound
5. O'Leary
6. Todd
7. Cusack
8. Phillips
9. Appleby @
10. Williams #
11. Roberts

12. Romo
13. Tyson #86
14. De Vulgt
15. Jones
16. Mmford @66

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 Kidderminster

1. Brock
2. Clarkson
3. Shail
4. Smith
5. Joy
6. Bird
7. Blake
8. Davies
9. Stamps
10. Bennett
11. Larkin

    ---

12. Murphy
13. D Williams
14. Shilton
15. Broughton
16. Sall

The Swans first league visit to Kidderminster was enjoyed by a travelling support of approx 500 this being one of the nearer venues and very near for us . A neat but small ground which confirms their status as new boys to the league, but the playing surface was in excellent condition.

The Swans lined up in their now customary 3-5-2. Appleby replacing the injured Coates being the only change from Tuesday's game against Shrewsbury.

We had an early scare when a Swans attack was broken down, Kiddie counter attacked leaving their attacker 1 on 1 with Rog, who stayed tall and saved comfortably. We now started to play some tidy football with players looking for the ball and wanting to be involved.

The early breakthrough came on 7 mins, and what a goal to enjoy. From left midfield just inside the Kiddie half of the field, Howard played a through ball towards the left of their area, where through intelligent running into space was picked up by Williams, who being met by defenders slipped the ball back infield to Roberts at the edge of the box, instead of going for goal Roberts held the ball and with perfect timing passed to the right edge of the box into the path of Jenkins who had timed his run finishing with a crisp shot across the keeper into the net. A perfect build up & finish.

We continued to dominate the game with only a few responses from Kiddie. The reward came on 20 mins when Williams hustled their centre back and broke through 1 on 1 with the keeper and slotting into the net. Half time came with us comfortably in control with one further scare when Rog received a glancing kick to the head on the stroke of half time. Phillips receive yet another yellow card for a needless late tackle.

Rog came out early for the second half for what seemed to be a fitness test, maybe due to the knock to the head. Kiddie made 3 substitutions. The second half started with us under the cosh with many crosses into our box causing a bit of panic.

The Kiddie changes were taking effect and they dominated the early exchanges with the Swans unable to clear their lines. Mumford replaced Appleby half way through the half for what must have been an injury as he went straight to the dressing room.

Mumford added a presence in midfield and when bursting through found himself with only the goalie to beat was put slightly off balance by a tug to the shirt and shot wide. Not too long after a clearance from a crowded area found him again on the edge of the box this time shooting narrowly wide. We were now losing our shape and coming under greater pressure and but for some poor finishing and last gasp blocks Kidderminster might have clawed themselves back into the game.

With about 5 mins to go Tyson came on for the tiring Williams, and within 2 mins had made his mark on the game. Following through chasing a ball he slid in on the keeper. Whether he made contact or not we aren't sure but the Keeper reacted violently which resulted in a free for all, which took some time to settle.

We knew the goalie had to go and of course that would also ment Tyson as well. As they had used their subs this resulted in an outfield player going in goal. Not much action after this until the final whistle, which was met with total joy from both players and fans.

A few observations.
During the pre-match warm up the players seemed relaxed and were actually smiling. A long time since we have seen that.

The play actually looked as if there was a game plan, with many alternatives being used other than just a hopeful ball into the box

The first half team performance was a joy to watch for both skill and determination.

The second half found us struggling for periods, but we put this down to the total effort shown in the first period.

The partnership of Williams and Roberts worked well, with both causing problems for their defence.

The back three seem uncertain of their roles with Todd struggling on many occasions, Bound organizing but O'Leary in most of the action.

Phillips has improved greatly but must learn when it would be better not to tackle as his card count is mounting. Molby responded well to the adulation from the Swans fans, but it was also noticeable that all chants to Molby were quickly followed by support for our current manager.

Even though we didn't sample it, the cottage pie seemed to be doing a roaring trade

One downside, when the free for all was going on, a few plastic bottles were thrown from behind the goal.

Of course they were aimed at the keeper, (which is totally uncalled for), but how many of the throwers can vouch that their aim is good that the bottles could not have hit a Swans player.

Overall an entertaining game and a good all round performance. This was our first game seen under the new management and if improvement continues we can at least look forward to more highs than lows.

Yet more encouragement for success-starved Jacks today, as the Swans battled their way to a deserved 2 - 0 victory against Jan Molby's journeyman side. Previous performances under Addison had suggested improvement, but it was great to finally get the three points as a reward for the progress the team has clearly been making.

The 3 -5 - 2 formation favoured by Addison/Nicholas was again on show, with the now familiar centre half trio of Bound, Todd and O'Leary flanked by Jenkins and Howard. In midfield today were Phillips, Cusack and Appleby (replacing the injured Coates), with Roberts and Williams again spear-heading the attack. The side was greeted by a tremendous showing of around 600 Jacks who made plenty of noise before, during and after the game, but whose loudest shout was reserved for the opposition manager - Jan Molby being given an excellent reception from the Swans fans with a rousing rendition of "Molby wonderland". Fortunately, this soon gave way to the more forward-looking "Addison's Barmy Army".

In sun-drenched conditions, which seemed to buck the national weather trends today, and on a perfect pitch, the Swans suffered the first scare when Wolves loanee Colin Larkin broke free after 4 minutes, but his poor effort was easily saved by Freestone. The Swans responded with Todd heading over from a Phillips free kick after 6 minutes. But then it was the Swans who opened the scoring with a goal of real quality. Some neat passing involving Phillips and Williams saw the ball threaded to Roberts on the left side of attack. He then switched the play with a terrific cross field ball to Jenkins who collected the pass, rounded a defender and slotted the ball home brilliantly from a tight angle. A great opener produced by some fluent football.

The home side responded with some lively forward play, which had the Swans looking nervy in defence on more than one occasion. The best chance came on 13 minutes - our left back position was exposed by the ball over the top, and a great cross from Larkin was volleyed wide by Dean Bennett. But then on 21 minutes our lead was doubled and we seemed to be cruising, as Roberts flipped the ball on to Williams who burst past his marker to score from close range.

This knocked some of the fight out of the home side - and completely silenced the already rather mute home crowd (were they a mural?), and the remainder of the half produced few chances for either side. We had a decent penalty shout on the half hour when a goal bound header seemed to be handled on the line, and a shot from Appleby on 35 minutes was blocked by a defender. Home midfielder Ian Clarkson struck an impressive long range volley just before the break which went wide. The latter part of the half was characterised by the Swans' most impressive period of controlled football, in which they passed the ball accurately and patiently through midfield, controlling the tempo of the game, and for a while looking very impressive indeed.

The second half began with a home side clearly bouyed up by a half time Danish roasting, and we inevitably came under some early pressure. O'Leary was forced to atone from his own early error by clearing away a goal mouth scramble in the 48th minute. A minute later, Mark Blake fired over from close range, missing Kiddie's best chance of the game. This stirred the Swans into a response, and Cusack headed over in the 51st minute. But the home side were on the up now, and Dean Bennett should have done better with a header after 55 minutes, which cleared the bar. The Swans were still looking to press forward at every opporutnity in their desire to kill the game off, and this resulted in some panics at the back. Another chance fell to Blake on hour, but this time he volleyed over, though it did leave us thinking that a better side might by now have punished us at the back.

Andrew Mumford replaced the tired Appleby after 65 minutes and almost immediately a golden opportunity fell to him to put the game out of reach, as he seized upon a poor back pass and advanced unchallenged on the keeper; unfortunately he scuffed his shot wide. A few minutes later an excellent cross from Roberts, who was now causing the home side all sorts of problems, set up another shooting chance for Mumford but this time his effort went wide of the other post.

Then just as we were looking comfortable again, we gifted another chance to Kiddie - as Drewe Broughton ghosted past a static defensive line only to strike a poor shot straight at Freestone. The end to end pattern continued as Roberts went on a superb solo run which ended with him falling in the box - he seemed to be caught by the defender, but unfortunately he exaggerated his fall, which resulted in him picking up a booking for diving, after being shoved away by Brock in the Kiddie goal(more on him later!) Kiddie responded again when the excellent Larkin crossed once more for Blake, who sent a bullet header just wide of the post.

This was the home team's last serious assault, but as Nathan Tysonm replaced the tiring John Williams, there was time left for one last dramatic incident. Eager to make an impression, Tyson chased a back pass and challenged the keeper as he played it away - the challenge was impetuous, and a little late, and certainly deserved a booking. However, the reaction of keeper Stuart Brock was remarkable - he rushed up to Tyson, struck him across the head, and continued to attempt to pummel him. Tyson, to his credit, did not react to this assault, and tried to extricate himself. Unfortunately, this resulted in half the players on the pitch getting involved in an unseemly brawl, and a few idiots in the Swans crowd hurling plastic bottles onto the pitch.

The referee reacted as we expected him to, by sending off both players. Whilst this was probably done in order to give an impression of fairness to both sides, it was a poor interpretation of the laws of the game. Tyson was guilty of the bookable offence of jumping at a player - it was not malicious or dangerous, and he should have been booked. Brock was guilty of striking an opponent - a red card offence. Hopefully, the club will appeal against Tyson's sending off and in our view would have every chance of success.

This marred proceedings a little, but it did not detract from the celebrations at the final whistle - Nick Cusack and Stuart Roberts ran to shake hands with the Swans fans, John Williams kissed his shirt in celebration, and the remaining Swans players applauded the fans to a man. You'd have thought we had won promotion!

Player ratings:
Freestone - 8 not much to do but did it well - nice moment when asked for the score by the Swans fans (at 2-0 first half) Roger refused to answer presumably not confident enough at that stage!
Howard - 7 had a tough time with Larkin
Bound - 8 solid today - signs of the old Mattie
Todd - 7 supported Bound well, good in the air
O'Leary - 7 competent in the back 3
Jenkins - 9 getting better every game at wingback (why did we waste him in midfield?)
Cusack - 7 a steady midfield general performance but faded in the second half
Phillips - 7 good passion - but needs to watch his discipline (yet another booking today!)
Appleby - 7 some nice touches, though rather out of position
Roberts - 8 not his finest all round performance but created both goals
Williams - 7 good first half performance, faded in last 20 mins (not fully fit?)

subs
Tyson (!!) Not his fault but he wasn't on long enough for a rating.
Mumford - 6 missed one great chance.