 |
Match report |
|
Swansea City 2 v 0 Mansfield Town | |
|
Swansea
Freestone Howard # Phillips Mumford O'Leary Todd Coates Casey Brodie Watkin Williams Jones Romo #78 Cusack O'Sullivan De-Vulgt
Mansfield
Referee
Attendance
|
Send in your match report for inclusion on this page.
Listers' view - Pauly & Giggsy
The first home appearance of the Swans under the management of Nick Cusack and Roger Freestone saw third placed Mansfield Town as the visitors. The Swans were also looking for their first win for Cus and Dodge, as well as revenge for a 3-0 reversal in the earlier away fixture.
Settling on a 4-4-2 formation, the team lined up without Neil Sharp and Big Mama, both out through injury, with Brodie recalled to the starting line up, and Ryan Casey making his first starting line up for some time. Cusack remained on the bench as he had done at Carlisle, and was joined by youngster Chris O'Sullivan, and David Romo, who was able to at last ditch his now almost familiar Saturday attire of suit and tie.
Freestone
Phillips
Brodie
Watkin
Subs
The early exchanges were uninspiring, but with Mansfield looking far less comfortable than their automatic promotion league position would have suggested, the Swans did look to move the ball forward using the full width of the pitch. A Coates free kick from some 25 yards after Mumford had been heavily brought down was well struck but easily saved.
Mansfield caused some anxious moments at Freestones end of the field, although he was only forced into one good save, with the other dangers being handled by the defence.
Better control would have seen the Swans create far more chances closer to goal, but we continued with the habit of seeing good possession wasted by poor distribution. Ryan Casey was looking far more confident on the ball than in his numerous appearances as substitute and made some telling runs down the left flank, and showed the ability to cross the ball into the area with good height and pace. Also showing an improvement on recent performances was Coates, who showed some good control and lay offs.
Then on the half hour mark, Casey beat two men on the edge of the area and fired in a powerful left foot shot that the Mansfield keeper failed to hold. Watkin was close on hand to try to get the ball into the net but was brought down by the keeper, the Swans were awarded a penalty and Pilkington was sent off. Replacement goalkeeper Bingham got an early touch of the ball, when he picked it out of the net having failed to save Watkin's excellent penalty kick.
If only Watkin committed himself to some challenges the way that he did to the taking of the kick, he would be a far more effective player throughout the game.
With an outfield player having to be sacrificed, and down to 10 men, the Swans had every chance of putting some pressure on Mansfield. They had a great chance to stretch the lead about 5 minutes after the penalty, but John Williams, who was clearly able to outpace the Mansfield defenders, failed to lift the ball over the advancing Bingham, and the ball was cleared to safety.
A surprising refereeing decision just before half time saw Coates and Williamson fortunate to avoid yellow cards following a heavy tackle by the Mansfield player, and retaliation by Coates. Virtually all the players on the field were involved in the incident at one stage, but that proved to be the only ugly moment of the match, although challenges were borderline on occasions after that.
The second half saw more of the same, and after some 10 minutes, another Mansfield player was lucky to stay on the field, when, seemingly the last man, he pulled down Watkin, only to escape with a yellow card. Mumford's free kick was on target, but straight at Bingham.
Casey was fading a little in the second half but still produced some encouraging touches, and also saw another powerful shot pass the right hand post from a narrow angle. Williams was lasting the 90 minutes far better than of late and seemed to enjoy the chance to race the defence. A better understanding between Williams and Watkin, when delicate flick-ons by Willo's head or foot found his striking partner often 20 yards away, could have seen far more dangerous moments in the Mansfield defence.
In turn the Swans defence held out well, with Phillips doing OK on the right, and Howard looking more comfortable in the conventional left back role. Some scary moments in the last fifteen minutes were well handles, with Freestone only forced to make one good save, when he dived low to his left to palm the ball around the post.
Bingham then became the next Mansfield booking when he held on to the ball after collecting it from going out for a throw in to the Swans, and ran back into his penalty area before releasing it.
With ten minutes to go, Romo replaced Howard, and with his first touch of the ball in first team football since Macclesfield away in the FA Cup, he hit a blistering right foot shot from at least 20 yards to the left of the Mansfield keeper, who had absolutely no chance of stopping it. The build up to that had been good with Willo and Watto both involved.
With the game now safe, it was the Swans that continued to drive forward and a series of saves and corners could have seen us end the game 3-0. As it was a 2-0 victory was more than many had expected today, and may well have upset a few people's betting hopes. I think they can blame the improvement in some individual performances for that. A crowd of 3,527 watched the game, but if the team could show the passion that they should for the full 90 minutes then results like this will be more commonplace than they have been this season, and maybe a few more people would be interested in watching.
Player ratings:
Freestone - 8 Solid, rarely tested
"Where have you been, Mr Romo-son?" Plaudits to Cusack and
Freestone for bringing Romo on. He made the momentum change
dramatically in the 2nd half. It made me wonder why he's been sitting
in the stands all these months. I can hear the roar after his goal
still ringing in my ears -- and I "watched" the game on BBC's "Live
Text Commentary," which has no sound.
The game momentum in the 1st half went Mansfield/Swans/Mansfield, as
we weathered an extra-time attack-fest. In the 2nd half, it was the
opposite: Swans/Mansfield/Swans. In the second half, the Swans had 6
consecutive shots in the first 15 minutes, followed by Mansfield's 4
consecutive shots in the next 10, then the Swans with 4 in the last
15.
It became clear that the Swans threw everything at goal in that first
third of the 2nd half, then appeared to fade or tire (someone who was
there, please comment).
The 2nd half momentum change from Mansfield back to the Swans
coincided with the arrival of Romo.
Watkin, it seems to me played a rock-steady game. From having seen
him in December, he looks to be that kind of player -- not flashy,
just dependable as all he££!
My un-invited advice to Cusack and Freestone is to watch momentum and
put fresh legs on sooner.
My gratitude to them for continuing to press Mansfield right to the
end. I've had quite enough of this circling the wagons and waiting
for the Indians to break through. It didn't work for Custer either.
It must have been one helluva game. All of you Internet Whingers must
be thrilled to have seen a most entertaining game.
And I can still hear the R O A R !
Swansea City dented Mansfield's automatic promotion hopes as the troubled Welsh club recorded a deserved 2-0 victory at Vetch Field. The match came alive in the 28th minute when Mansfield goalkeeper Kevin Pilkington dived and parried a 15-yard shot from Ryan Casey and in attempting to retrieve the ball, bundled over Steve Watkin near the goalline. Swansea were awarded a penalty and Pilkington was shown the red card. Striker Steve Watkin duly crashed the spot-kick past substitute goalkeeper Michael Bingham. Mansfield should have equalised in the 66th minute but defender Stuart Reddington missed a glaring opportunity by shooting high over the crossbar from six yards right in front of goal. David Romo put the game beyond Mansfield with a magnificent 25-yard shot into the top corner of the Mansfield net nine minutes from time.
Steve Watkin and David Romo scored the goals that gave Swansea City a
comfortable win over promotion-chasing Mansfield, who had goalkeeper
Kevin Pilkington sent off at the Vetch Field this afternoon. Nick Chusack, who along with Roger
Freestone is trying to manage, coach, organise and play, again left
himself on the bench while Steve Brodie and Ryan Casey took over from
the injured Mamady Sidibe and Neil Sharp. It was the Swans first home match since the controversal
departures of manager Colin Addison and his assistant Peter Nicholas
and Jonathan Coates had a chance to give them the lead only after four
minutes.
Swansea won a free kick
25-yards out and, although Coates curled his effort around the
defensive wall, it presented no problem for Mansfield's goalkeeper
Kevin Pilkington. Coates had another
opening six minutes later but miss-hit his shot from 12 yards and
Mansfield hit back through speedy winger Wayne Corden. Corden made ground down the left before
cutting inside and hitting an angled drive from just inside the area
that Freestone did well to turn away as he dived to his left. The game erupted in the 28th minute when
Pilkington was sent off for deliberate foul play. The goalkeeper spilled a shot from Casey
and bungled Steve Watkin to the ground as the striker raced in to try
to take advantage. Substitute
goalkeeper Michael Bingham took over at the expense of midfieldfer
David Kelly but his first touch was to pick the ball out of the net
after Watkin had thrashed the resultant penalty into the corner. Bingham kept Mansfield in the game,
though, when he came out well to spread himself and block a well-hit
shot from John Williams in the 35th minute. Corden almost put Mansfield back on terms in the first minute
of the second half, but screwed his shot wide of Freestone's left-hand
post after Adam Murray had set up a chance. It was Swansea, though, who had most of the play and Bingham
was kept busy in the Mansfield goal. The young goalkeeper, making his first league appearance, did
well to intercept a dangerous cross from Brodie, but kept his best
effort until an amazing incident in the 58th minute. John Williams came racing in to charge down
a Bingham clearance and the ball rebounded over the goalkeeper's head.
It was on its way into the net as Bingham got back just in time to
palm it off the line. But Bingham
had no chance at all in the 81st minute when Swans substitute Romo,
settled the match with a stunning 20-yard drive from a Williams
pass. |
Click here to return to the main page.