Darlington 2 Swansea City 2 - Andy Donaghue

The first real chance fell to James Thomas when a looping header from a David Smith cross crashed against the crossbar which was followed by a Jamie Wood effort which just missed the post.

Darlo's predictable route one football still stretched the Swans defence and long range efforts from Wainwright, Betts and Madison all went close.

The second half opened up with the play switching end to end , Conlon and Clark were a continued threat but it was the Swans who broke the deadlock on the hour when David Smith right footed a curling shot into the corner from a failed clearance.

Darlo responded well and a Conlon flicked header sent the unmarked Clark away the beat Freestone at the far post.

The swans fans around 130 looked on as the home side continued to pressure and resulting a corner provided darlo's liddel with a diving header past the unsighted (again) Freestone after Liddel had lost his marker.

By this time Cusack had replaced Williams for Wood and in a attempt to salvage the game switched to 4-3-3 with Sharp replacing the run ragged Jason Smith and Watkin for Paul Reid. This saw a transformation with Watkin being able to hold the ball up by bringing Williams and Thomas into the game and darlington started to defend deeper to preserve their lead.

Rundle could have sealed the win for Darlo after a breakaway which saw his 25yrd goalbound shot tipped over by Freestone. The Swans pressured to the final whistle when Williams sent in a curling far post cross and Watkin headed past the Stranded porter.

opinion-
We do appear to be struggling with these big forwards ,Lowe on saturday and Conlon tonight but there is a pattern of play which can retain the ball and with the different combinations of strikers available we can also change our style to combat the oppostion.

I have to praise Cusack's tactics/subsitutions , like a Swans fan said next to me , what would have a previous manager have done from a few season's back.....
probably nothing!

Darlington 2 Swansea City 2 - Roy Anthony

As I saw the first half, though, the Swans were a match for the home team although both teams were caught between running like headless chickens and an occasional flash of play it on the floor football. The first half was a typical Div 3 first home game of the season from Darlo trying to impress home fans and Swans trying to contain them and hold onto some sort of pattern in their play. Both teams had chances with the Swans having the closest chance - a header onto the bar from Thomas rising at the back post. Darlo's chances were well hit shots that looked spectacular but never troubled Freestone. At the end of the first half the Swans looked fairly solid throughout with all players seeming to give their all for the cause.

The second half began with a bit more thought from both teams. Gone was the 100mph football and both teams started trying to play football with Swansea passing their way forward more convincingly. With Williams coming on with about 35 mins left the Swans tried pushing the ball wide right more where Williams and Jenkins particularly, worked the flanks well. A long throw in the 61st min from Williams caused all kinds of chaos in the Darlo box and Davey Smith was able to fire the opening goal in from the left corner of the area. The travelling Swans (?150 - 200) who had been making most of the noise anyway, erupted.

Not for long, though, as Darlo quickly got back into the game as a ball lost in midfield found it's way between the two Swans at the back and Clarke netted past a stranded Freestone.

Darlo were now on fire and the Swans under pressure started defending more deeply giving the Darlo midfield plenty of time to pick their passes and for 10 mins, give the Swans the run-around.

Darlo's second was another piece of shoddy defending as the Swans watched a clearance be controlled wide on the right and failed to close it down. As O'Leary went to cover the winger, Wainwright I think, picked out an unmarked Liddle on the back post who put a diving header past the hapless looking Swans into the corner of the net.

2 - 1 and nightmares of Hartlepool came flooding back.
Cusack rang the changes during an injury break and looked to resort to a 4-4-2 or at times a 4-3-3 with Thomas, Williams and Watkin up front and the Swans woke up and refused to be rolled over pushing forward with the ball on the floor whenever possible but with a fair bit of route one thrown in for good measure particularly as Williams and Thomas were winning more of the aeriel stuff.

The equaliser came in the dying minutes as work down the Darlo left side allowed ?Thomas to put the ball in for Watkin to bully his way past some feeble marking and plant the ball to the left of the keeper.

If that wasn't enough for some delirious Jacks, the Swans went hunting for a winner only for the game to finish in a reasonably fair draw.

This is the first time I've seen the Swans this season and compared with the last time, Hartlepool, I'm a damn sight happier. Reid, Wood, Jenkins, O'Leary, Evans (please grow), J & D Smith's all impressed tonight. Murphy needs to up his work rate in the middle of the park for me but I'm happy to reserve judgement a little longer. It was a pleasure after last seeing the Swans, to see a team that wanted to play, was willing to scrap and wouldn't lie down.

But my final note goes to that man Roger. His back-peddling finger tip save over the bar about 5 mins from time brought the whole of Feethams to it's feet. Make no mistake - that was a world class save and in any other division would be talked about and analysed 'til the cows came home.

Thank you Roger and thank you Swansea City.

Darlington 2 Swansea City 2 - BBC Online

Darlington had dominated a rather dour first half but it was the visitors who took the lead after 61 minutes when defender David Smith rifled home from 25 yards. But four minutes later the Quakers were on level terms when a long clearance was headed on by Barry Conlon and Ian Clark raced forward to clip the ball past keeper Roger Freestone.

That seemed to spur Darlo into life and five minutes later they forged ahead when a cross from Neil Wainwright was superbly headed in from 15 yards by captain Craig Liddle.

But with time running out the hosts were made to pay for a defensive lapse when they failed to clear their lines and Watkin popped up to head home.

Darlington:
Porter, Betts, Valentine, Liddle, Clarke, Wainwright, Rundle, Maddison, Clark, Conlon , Nicholls. Subs: Reed, Naylor, Keltie, Sheeran, McGurk.

Swansea:
Freestone, Jenkins, David Smith, O'Leary, Jason Smith, Evans, Murphy, Thomas, Phillips, Reid, Wood. Subs: Mumford, Watkin, Marsh, Williams, Sharp.

Referee:
E Evans (Manchester)

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