Match report

Cambridge Utd 1 Swansea 0

This was a lively and entertaining encounter, in difficult conditions, at Abbey Stadium today, and one in which the Swans acquitted themselves reasonably well for much of the game. But ultimately this was as much of a hammering as a 1 - 0 could be, with Cambridge swarming forward in the second half and coming close to scoring on 7 or 8 occasions. Even with a much improved and sharper performance, we still came off second best, and return pointless.

The Swans lined up with Freestone in goal, DeVulgt and Howard in the full back berths, and Smith and O'Leary as the centre half pairing. In midfield, Jenkins took up a left sided position (but often found himself in the middle), with Mumford and Philips in the centre, and Cash wide left. Thomas partnered Wood up front.

The first half was an even contest in which the Swans played well for several peiods. In a lively opening, the sides exchanged one good chance each in the first 10 minutes. First, Mumford made the home keeper work with a neat left footed strike, adn then a minute later, the U's should have taken the lead when a scuffed corner travelled right across our six yard box, only for the ensuing shot to be cleared off the line by DeVulgt.

On 17 minutes the enterprising Wood had a half-shout for a penalty when he seemed to be bundled over in the box, but the ref was unimperssed. The home side responded with a neat move down our left side, which culminated in a terific goal-saving challenge from Smith to deny Kitson.

The Swans best passage of play followed this, during which we strung together some fluent passing moves, but often with no real cutting edge. We forced a couple of decent chances. A long punt from Roger on the half hour sent Thomas through on goal, and his left foot effort drifted agonisingly wide. A minute later, Wood burst through only to be denied by a strong challenge; and from the corner, Thomas headed wide. Then on 40 minutes a neat cross from Wood found tthoms in space, but his left foot strike was excellently parried by the home keeper.

Having enjoyed the best of the play for this period, the Swans almost contrived to give the home side the lead in first hald injury time. Howard backed off from a strong run by the excellent Tudor, whose shot flashed just wide of Freestone's goal. Probably just ahead on points, then, at half time, but after the break it was a different story.

Just like at Stevenage, it seems as though teams just suss us out, and after the break they attack us with renewed vigour, knowing that some exerted pressure will bring rewards. This almost happened immediately, when a header from Paul Wanless struck our bar, and Roger was forced to make an excellent flying save from Kitson's shot on the rebound.

A minute later we were exposed again, when Kitson should have done better with a low cross which he struck over the bar. Suddenly we were under immense presure, and it was only a matter of time before we conceded. This duly occurred on 52 minutes when Kitson was left unmarked in the box, and he powered home a header from close range with Roger stranded. Despite being very much second best now, we contrived an excellent opportunity to equalise on 68 minutes. Soem great approach work from Cash resulted forced the ball across to Williams (on for Mumford) 10 yards out, who managed to scoop his effort over the bar, when a firmly driven shot would surely have given us the lead. A bungled attempt at finesse, when power was needed.

Cambridge now began to attack at will, continuously exposing our defence on both flanks, particularly through the excellent running of Tudor. Freestone made two excellent saves during this period, to keep our hopes alive. Keaveney and Murphy both entered the fray at different points in the closing stages, but neither made a major impression. Omer Riza almost extended the lead for the home team with a fierce drive which went just wide, and both keaevney and DeVulgt were booked for desperate late challenges in their attempt to stave off further attacks. We did push forward in the latter stages, and we forced two goal-mouth scrambles, either of which could have seen us grab a point which, in truth, would have been hardly deserved.

Player ratings:

• Freestone - 8 Little chance with the goal
• DeVulgt - 5 Badly exposed with players running at him
• Howard - 5 as above
• Smith - 8 Storming first half, and did his best in the second
• O'Leary - 6 Not a stinker, but hardly Captain marvel
• Jenkins - 6 Great first half effort, but went AWOL after the break
• Mumford - 5 Little impression and seems off the pace
• Phillips - 6 Most of our industry in the centre came from him
• Cash - 6 Some teasing runs
• Wood - 7 Held up the ball well, and very mobile
• Thomas - 7 Looked dangerous and worked hard; lacked real service

• Keaveney - 6 Some game running
• Williams - 4 Poor, and missed a great chance
• Murphy - Too late to earn his poor rating!

midfield...we desperately need someone in there with a bit of experience who can act as a play-maker. Certainly, he needs to do something, or we are going to find ourselves with plenty of new grounds to visit next season...all with easy parking!

Cambridge Utd 1 Swansea 0

Only one change was made to the team that according to all reports played dreadfully against Kidderminster in the week. Reid was suspended and replaced by Phillips. In reality the team picks itself with very few options available to Brian Flynn. Even after such a mauling in the week there was a creditable away following of 200 housed in the new away stand behind the goal. In fact a fair way behind the goal, in readiness I suspect to move the pitch allowing development of the home end.

The game had only been going a minute when De Vulgt and Tudor collided resulting in a long delay enabling any latecomers to take their seats. The game restarted with Cambridge putting the Swans under pressure and for the first 20mins had almost total control, with back to the wall defending not allowing them much of a site at goal aprt from a goal line clearance from De Vulgt. Smith seemed 'up for it' as many crunching tackles were made. After weathering the storm the Swans did crawl their way back into the game and did enjoy a 15min period when they had the upper hand. Wood & Thomas again battled manfully but were living off scraps as most attacks were hopeful long balls from defence, without any creative moves through midfield. Cambridge again came strong towards half time, which came after 5mins of extra time, with us still in the game at 0-0.

Very much like the Carlisle game the team were very slow to start with Cambridge having 3 very close chances within the first couple of mins. By now the intermittent rain of the first half, had turned into a consistent heavy drizzle which was to last the whole of the second half. The conditions made it difficult for both teams with many players unable to keep their feet. Cambridge did adapt better and we found ourselves second to most balls. Cambridge were a much more physical side than us and many of our challenges were brushed aside.

We were defending deeply and not closing their midfield down allowing them to make at least 10yards progress at every attack. Their goal came from an attack down their left resulting in a long cross field pass to the right wing, and with Howard moving out to that area the player crossed towards the penalty spot for Kitson to plant a header into the net with both Smith & Freestone losing their footing on the slippery surface.

Mumford was replaced by Williams as we chased the game, but by now Cambridge had the beating of us as they mounted attack after attack. A further change saw Keaveney replace Wood and a very late change saw Murphy replace Cash. In the dying minutes surprised to be still in the game, we did manage a couple of late attacks. With one cross and one corner it was very disapointing to find that players did not throw their bodies into challenges allowing Cambridge to survive.

Player Comments

• Freestone - Seemed unsure early on, but did make many important save to keep us in the game. His clearances were short of what was required.
• De Vulgt - Battled but is very lightweight and was caught in the wrong position on many occasions, but to his benefit kept going.
• Smith - A very strong performance winning most that came his way.
• O'Leary - A battling performance with many timely tackles.
• Howard - Many attacks down his side and was left unprotected. Allowed his man to cut inside on frequent occasions
• Jenkins - Put in effort for the whole game, but only defensively, showed nothing going forward.
• Phillips - As above
• Mumford - Did have a bright 5 mins but faded badly.
• Cash - Fairly anonymous did not show fight for the cause, seems only to want the ball to feet, and not go looking for it.
• Thomas - Again battled, did try a couple of speculative shots out of frustration when a pass was a better option.
• Wood - Like Thomas battled for everything without much success.

• Williams - Never got going and on the 2 occasions he had space to run with the ball didn't
• Keaveny - Full of running but no end result
• Murphy - Not on long enough to make an impression.

Having not seen the Kidderminster but read the many reports and postings, we can only guess that this was a much better effort. We chose the word effort carefully, as each player did put in the effort, but also made glaring mistakes. Apart from a couple of players returning from injury this is the team that will carry our hopes. It is very difficult to say but relegation is staring us in the face. Games are passing us by with no glimmer of changing fortunes. It is a simple game, you must want the ball more than the opposition. Until we start winning more of the 50/50 balls teams will dominate us and we will continue to chase shadows. Effort is not going to be enough, the skill level and teamwork is sadly missing.