Mansfield
Pilkington
Hassell
Tankard
Reddington
Robinson
Lawrence
Corden
Williamson
Disley
Greenacre
Piper

If anyone is logging on to this report to find some crumbs of comfort, they are unlikely to find them. The Swans were devoid of good fortune today, but all in all it was a disappointing effort, with a disorganised and passionless second half wiping away the memories of a constructive first half hour. It is surely no co-incidence, though, that our recent brief resurgence in form coincided with a fleeting period of optimism that Mr Petty was surely to be ousted. The removal of that false hope seems to have plunged the team's morale and performance level back to rock bottom level, and this time it is hard to see how they can climb back up.

Strangely, the first half hour was almost completely dominated, in terms of possession, by the Swans. And some of this play was constructive and promising, as the midfield of Coates, Lacey and Cusack exerted early control, and prompted the running of the front two of Williams and Sidibe with some neat approach play. The two Evanses also supported well from full back, and we saw some decent balls played into the box from both flanks. However, this period gave us scant return in terms of chances - an early strike over the bar from O'Leary and a great strike from Coates, which just cleared the bar on 19 minutes, were our only efforts, and certainly Pilkington in the home goal was not forced into a save.

And we paid the price for this lack of penetration when we fell behind to a sucker goal on 13 minutes. A simple flick on caught the back three of Bound, Smith and O'Leary flat-footed, and deadly striker Chris Greenacre stole in to neatly finish - the ball rolling agonisingly into the corner after Freestone had seemed to get a hand to it. To their credit, the Swans did not let their heads drop at this stage, and tried to play their way back into it, but from the half hour mark, the home side began to show some of the form which has taken them into the promotion places and took control. On 29 minutes Freestone was forced into an excellent save with his legs, and a minute later a cross from the Mansfield left found its way to a Mansfield striker (didn't get the number) whose left foot snap shot from point blank range went just wide.

Just before half time, it was our turn to attack on the break, and briefly we thought it had brought us back on level terms, as a magnificent strike from Coates flew inches wide of Pilkington's post. But as the Swans were still holding their heads in dismay, they were again caught by a sucker punch, as a Mansfield player embarrassed the hesitant Bound before slipping the ball to Greenacre who slid the ball past Freestone. The 2 - 0 deficit was harsh, and indeed the Swans almost stole one back in first half injury time as a shot from Cusck was almost deflected in by Sidibe. Indeed, during the interval there was still some hope among the Swans fans that an early goal in the second half could see us get right back into this one.

The start of the second half saw us make two substitions, as Brodie replaced Lacey to give us more punch in attack, and Sharp came on for the presumably injured Smith. The re-enervated side then twice came close to pinching that vital first goal. A great volley from Cusack was tipped over the bar by Pilkington, and from the corner, a header was cleared off the line. At this point we really thought we were on the up, but it was short-lived - and we should have been punished on 50 minutes when Greenacre missed a free header from 6 yards.

On 52 minutes a low shot from Cusack was well saved by Pilkington, and this proved to be the end of the Swans' resistance, before the home side took complete territorial control. Our midfield disappeared from the fray, the full backs were isolated when they went forward, the front men looked frustrated by lack of service, and when they got the ball they failed to hold on to it. Mansfield played the game in a strong and simple manner, feeding the wings, switching the play and getting the ball into the box at every opportunity.

Freestone made a couple of excellent saves to keep us in it, and Mansfield missed several golden opportunities to finish us off, with a snap shot from Brodie our only response during this spell. On 77 minutes we were put out of our misery when a series of about 20 passes culminated in a simple through ball to a Mansfield striker on their left, who scurried away from Evans before delivering a low cross to Matthew Piper who struck home frist time at the far post. The manner of the goal was contintal, but this was no Barcelona - this was only Mansfield. But it was a deserved third goal to finish off what was, by then, a completely demoralised Swans side.

Other opportunities came for the home side to pile on the agony, but they failed to take any of them. In the last few minutes we had a couple of flurries in the home penalty area but never really looked like pulling one back. At the final whistle, many of the visiting Jacks had left, few appluaded the team off, and the players trooped away looking shell shocked. A game which for 40 minutes seemed well within them, had disappeared unaccountably into the Mansfield mist.

Freestone - 7 The only player with any real credit; made some great saves to keep us in it, and had little chance with the goals.
Evans T - 6 Looked strong and dangerous in the first half, but after the break struggled to cope with the physicality of the home attack
Evans S - 6 Like his name-sake he probed forward well in the first half, but struggled after the interval.
Bound - 4 Slow and ponderous; not a distinguished game for Matty
Smith - 5 Similar, but possibly labouring with injury again
O'Leary - 5 Like his fellow central defenders, found it hard to cope with the pacy Mansfield strikers
Cusack - 6 Exerted plenty of influence first half, and was possibly our most effective striker in the early part of the second; but lost his grip in the latter stages
Lacey - 5 Faded after a bright start
Coates - 5 A couple of great strikes, but a nightmare second half.
Sidibe - 6 Some strong running, but didn't fashion a strike on goal.
Williams - 5 Battled gamely for 60 minutes, but made no great impact.

Brodie - 5 Buzzed around but to little effect.
Sharp - 5 Chased shadows for most of his second half appearance
Watkin - 5 Struggled to hold possession when he got it.

The worst performance I have ever seen from a Swans team was at Mansfield back in the early nineties, when we failed to create a strike on goal in a 2 - 0 defeat. This was nowhere near that bad, and some might say that if some luck had gone our way early on we would have got something out of the game. But at the end of the day we forced the keeper into only two saves, and for all our first half possession we never really made the home defence sweat. As long as we lack this firepower we will be struggling to win games; our ducking and diving chairman would do well to note that Brodie and Sidibe on the park together failed to muster a shot on target...using the former to replace the latter will not up our strike rate.

But of course, what will he care. Rumour had it that he was in the Director's box at Field Mill today, wearing a Swans scarf. Ironic that he should wear the colours whilst presiding over the demise of a team that clearly no longer wants to play for him or with him, and which now seems to be physically wilting amidst the over-whelming depression of it all. Perhaps criticism of a poor performance is harsh. If the fans feel rotten, imagine how the players must be feeling. But something has to happen soon, or we may well be looking up "Leigh RMI" on the map, and the trip to Forest Green could happen after all

Ok let’s get the scene setting out of the way, winter has arrived, 7c and a damp day with the pitch lifeless. Field Mill has been transformed into a 3 sided all seater stadium, a bit of a Lego build but very good for the lower divisions. Not a large crowd but the design of the main stand helped to create noise even if it was mostly ‘Yellows’,’ Yellows’. A visiting support of about 170.

We started the game with the same line up as against QPR. The first half was played mostly in midfield without neither keeper being greatly pressurised. Coates had 2 good attempts from outside the box getting us up out of our seats, but both coming to nothing. Mansfield showed even less attempts on goal, until we gave the ball away in midfield allowing Greenacre to cut in from the left corner of the box placing the ball into the far corner passed Rog. We created a few half decent attacks and when it looked as if we might draw level, on the stroke of half time another shot from Greenacre seemed to get a deflection catching Rog wrong footed and went in at the near post. Talk at half time was still positive as although we had not played well Mansfield were not much better.

The second half saw changes, with Smith & Lacey being replaced by Sharp & Brody, and later Williams replaced by Watkin. The optimism at half time did not last for long as the game deteriorated into a ‘park kick about’ with neither side being able to control the ball, and having their own game of who could give the ball away the most. Mansfield gave us a couple of scares as our defence was turned inside out but made life difficult for themselves until they scored their third when another counter attack down their left was put across the six yard box to an oncoming player at the far post, shooting into an empty net. Even with the fact that we were playing badly, we did have 3 chances to score, a shot from Cusack from outside the area mid goal and through a crowd of players was saved low down by their keeper, A smart shot on the turn again from outside the area from Brody, and a hard low cross from our right, across the six yard box failed to find 3 oncoming forwards. The third goal was met with at least 25 fans leaving the ground, the final whistle resulted in a dash to the exits with very few fans applauding the players. This performance is one to forget, we had the lions share of the possession in the first half and still found ourselves 2 down. The second half saw a very lacklustre display even though we picked up a couple of bookings. We either played touch football in small boxes eventually giving the ball away, or found players completely isolated with no back up.

Today we played the team who are now second in the league, but the performance from both teams was more like a 6 pointer at the bottom. Mansfield won because they put more effort in, but both sides showed a complete lack of ideas and skill. If we had shown application and raised our game slightly we could have come away with the 3 points.

In the past we have been loath to criticise the team, under John Hollins the tactics, and players playing out of position, had a large bearing on poor displays. The events over the last months can be used as an excuse, but even then in defeat the team showed 100%, today it struggled to reach 75% and that cannot be allowed to continue. The fans are still turning up; we are in the current situation involving the Swans together. We are very sorry to say that the players did not show the same resolve.

We can only end this dismal report, with the views from the 2 sets of fans. We were very quiet today as there was not a lot to get enthused about. What chanting there was including the half-hearted ‘Petty Out’ soon fizzled out. Near to the end of the game the Mansfield fans were very loud in their ‘A long way for nothing’ it hurt as it was very true. Luckily for some of us it was not a long way back.

One last point, the old chestnut of should we/not Boycott games at the Vetch.

The decision will be immaterial as if there are more displays like this, its events on the field not off that will make peoples minds up.

It’s only a game argggggggggggghhhhh