Match report

Exeter City  1 - 0  Swansea City

The day started at 7:30 as I was first to be picked up on the AST coach.

A wending trip through the Swansea suburbs saw the coach arrive at the Quadrant at 8:30 and with close to a full coach, pulled off at 8:32.

STOP! Dai Smith had gone for coffees and so it was 5 minutes later that we actually headed off but suitably refreshed.

A leisurely drive with one short comfort break saw us pull into St James Park by 12:30 and we all headed straight for their social club.

The football started well with Swansea building up a 5-0 lead before an own goal saw Andrew and Scarlet undeservedly pull one back on the table football. A minor setback which only spurred Dai and me into greater concentration and and a final score of 8-2.

With the young Swans attacking the ninepins, the grown ups thought a darts comp would be in order, so Dai approached the bar for said arrows.

"Sorry love, no darts today, (in whispered tones) Swansea are here."

So it was MU v West Ham on the box ... for 3 minutes until the screen went blank.

"What's up with the TV steward?"

"Oh Sky have cut us off for not paying the bill."

Well you could have knocked me down with a feather. Didn't ML take his know how to Exeter to sort out their finances and avoid this sort of thing?

After mucho black stuff and some refreshment, the equivalent of 300 rolls of film were used by Andrew on the Exeter mascot - Athena. Actually there were 2 mascots - one male, but no one took his photo! Click here for photo supplied by Andrew.

Andrew is between jobs at the moment and after looking at some of the shots he took, I can only assume he is building his CV for a job in the Chest X-Ray dept in Singleton.

The game itself was played in steady rain (mostly drizzle).

Flynn lined the Swans up in 4-4-2 formation as follows:

The conditions were unpleasant but the playing conditions were a big improvement on our last outing against Shrewsbury. Despite this, the game had 0-0 written all over it and both sides looked relegation fodder with little flow or guile to any part of their game.

It was Exeter who might have took the lead on the 15 minute mark, when Martin Thomas found space to evade Tate and get a cracking shot on goal from the edge of the box only to see it rebound to safety off the right hand post with Freestone beaten.

Next threat again came from Exeter and a low shot from just 10 yards out had Freestone beaten again, but the ball rolled just the wrong side of the left post this time.

Around this time, Mumford limped off to be replaced by one of Cusack's forgotten men – Paul Reid.

With not much to enthuse about on the pitch, just before half-time a scene from the original Christmas story was re-enacted. A star appeared – but in the West not the East. On closer inspection it wasn't a star but the searchlight of a police helicopter. Some of the shepherds (sheepsh*ggers) lying in the field (behind the goals) were sore afraid.

But instead of 3 wise men appearing, a coach pulled up outside the away end (40 minutes late for the match!) How many of the men that got off were wise is debatable, especially when you assume the whole purpose of mounting the motorised camel back in Swansea was to see the baby Jesus (Flynn) wrapped in swaddling clothes (Bergoni tracksuit) and his 11 disciples. Judas (Mike Lewis) was missing, counting his 30 pieces of silver no doubt.

Once that naievety play was over, attention turned back to the pitch and Exeter had one further chance to break the deadlock with a flashing header from 8 yards out which, thankfully flew over the bar.

The half time whistle sounded and it was our turn to flow over the bar and catch up on some refreshment and halftime scores.

During that first half Swansea's only chances had resulted in some weak shots directly at the Exeter keeper – one from Britton after creating some space fro the shot. Wood also spurned some good opportunities to create something when he was put away on the right.

Second half was as grim as the first with the rain increasing in intensity, drowning the 250 strong Jack Army behind the goal.

Then, with the referee dishing out dubious free kicks for both sides, came the turning point. A ball into the box about 3-4 feet off the ground saw Tate swing a leg to clear, but Flack at the same time ducked his head toward the ball and earned a free kick for “foot up.”

With the ball placed just inside the box, the indirect free kick was struck through the ruck of players and the ricochet off O'Leary's heel saw the ball deflected into the bottom right hand corner of the net. An undeserved goal from a free kick that 9 times out of 10 wouldn't be given.

With just 15 minutes left, my mind went back to the many games we've played at the Vetch over the past few seasons, where we had gone one up at this late stage. The script for these situations writes itself; backs to the wall with the opposition throwing everything at you in a desperate attempt for an equaliser.

Not sure if our script got wet and became illegible, but it didn't really happen. Tate was pushed up front for the last 10 minutes, but no chances or even half chances were created.

During this spell, Murphy got stretchered off with a pretty serious looking injury.

A very disappointing performance from the Swans with Exeter not much better. Another must win game lost and with 2 more to come in the next 10 days, our fate will be sealed (in my mind) on the outcome of these results.

Player ratings:

• Freestone – 6 largely untroubled but beaten on 3 occasions. Poor kicking which might be excused by the conditions were it not a recurring theme.
• Evans – 6 usual 100% effort but caught out on one or two occasions
• Howard – 7 coped quite well with his defensive duties but few chances to maraud up the left wing.
• Tate – 7 not as assured as last game. Hitting O'Leary on the back of the head with a free kick upfield, showed something amiss in the organisation.
• O'Leary – 7 good game with some crucial tackles in the box
• Britton – 7 impressed in patches and carried the ball quite well, sometimes with no end product or direction. Bit much expecting him to fit in immediately
• Mumford 6 – limped off early
• Phillips 7 – usual 100% attitude, tackling was better than his distribution
• Thomas 6 – largely anonymous out on the left flank
• Wood 5 – next for the chop? (no pun intended)
• Murphy 5 – struggled but had no service
• Subs:
  Reid 6 – reasonable return after being out so long
• Stiens 6 – didn't show anything for the period he was on
• Watkin 6 – ditto

Back to the clubhouse for final results and more liquid refreshment. AST had the job of choosing Exeter's man of the match and Kwame Amapdu turned up after the game to be presented with his champagne by Wayne Davies.

Kwame hung around for good 20 minutes chatting to the Swans fans and catching up on old times. Top man Kwame.

The sombre journey back was lit up by the chant from the back of the coach, “The scum are losing 2-0.”

A night out in Llanelli ensued with mucho birra and curry consumed to end a day of good company and p*ss taking.

A poser to finish .. Do you know what Dai Smith really hates?

You'll have to email him cos he wouldn't tell us.

Another away day for the fans, and one for which more than the usual following turned out. The journey down to Exeter was broken only by a swift diversion into Burnham-on-Sea for some lunch, to at least curtail a little of the cash flow heading our ex-chief executive's way from today's encounter.

A basement clash that many thought we should win following the excellent performance against Shrewsbury two weeks ago proved to be a dogged affair, and as often happens, the journey back towards Swansea proved to be filled with desperation and disappointment.

With injuries keeping Jason Smith and Marc Richards on the sidelines, the team lined up as follows:

The formation in the early stages varied from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 and although we failed to take control of the game, we looked by far the more comfortable on the ball, with Britton showing good skills and appetite very early on. He was by far the main mover in the midfield, showing good vision and speed, and a determination to fight to regain a situation if lost.

A couple of moves down both flanks brought opportunities to develop some worthwhile attacks, but a good turn of speed by Thomas on the left saw him cross the ball into the area well, but no one was there to meet it. This was proving to be the pattern of the game with balls being spread across the field by a couple of players, but very little anticipation being shown by others. Wood looked decidedly off the pace, and was guilty of handing the ball back to Exeter virtually every time he was involved.

His lack of touch was best displayed when he was free on the right, at the edge of the area. The ball was played out to him, and when a cut inside was the obvious channel to take, he played a kick and rush game towards the by-line, and saw the ball run out for a goal kick.

As the half was played out, the need for us to score became more and more desperate. At the other end Martin Thomas hit the post with a curling shot after 15 minutes, and on the half hour another Exeter shot scurried past Freestone's right hand post. A free header just on half time was also wasted by Exeter who by now had started to dominate proceedings as it was becoming clear that our threat to their goal was fairly anonymous.

Mumford had been replaced by Reid after thirty minutes following an injury, but most in the crowd would have substituted him anyway in view of his below par performance. Mumford had shown none of the characteristics that had cheered the crowd at the Vetch in last home game, and was wayward in his distribution on numerous occasions. He had seemed so much more at home with a few gallons of water lying on the playing surface, and unfortunately it seems that our hopes of a fairly permanent return to form by him were a little premature.

Freestone had little to do throughout the half, and at the other end, what shots we did have were directed straight at the keeper.

All in all a disappointing first half, but nothing compared to the second where we failed to compete at all.

Britton continued his solo effort; Thomas drifted out of the game a little having been reasonably lively in the first half; Tate continued to be very effective at the back although he looked far less comfortable alongside O'Leary than in his games alongside Jason Smith. With O'Leary fairing badly in the aerial battles, it was left to Tate to clear up far to often, and having to shadow his partner brought increased responsibility that he could have done without.

Howard and Evans appeared to hang back a lot more in the second half and this diminished our attacks to break aways and hopeful long balls. Wood was replaced by our other new loan signing Craig Steins on 62 minutes, and Murphy, who had battled away, but did not seem as enthused or as effective as against Shrewsbury, was stretchered off and replaced by Watkins on 66 minutes.

Neither substitution made a difference to our play. Steins saw little of the ball, and with the exception of a headed effort on goal by Watkin, he did little.

The game was drifting towards a goalless draw when the referee gave an unbelievable indirect free kick against the Swans in the penalty area, seemingly for allowing an Exeter player to be able to stoop down low enough to give the impression that a Swans player's foot was raised too high. We couldn't see what else it could be for, and to penalise the Swans for lifting a foot too high was absolutely disgraceful. Be that as it may, he then ensured that the Swans wall was at least 12 yards off the ball (easy to calculate given the various measurements in the penalty area) and proceeded to take an age to do this.

When the kick was taken, it was touched to Roscoe who hammered it home with the help of a slight deflection.

In games that we have seen at the Vetch, if we are winning 1-0 with fifteen minutes to go, we are generally under siege, but we did not have the same approach to the last quarter of an hour, and although there were some speculative and wasted efforts on goal, we were as much under siege by Exeter as they should have been from us. All this saw us leave St James' with no points when one as a minimum had been expected.

The five bookings in a nine-minute spell either side of half time were to be telling signs of the way the remainder of the game would be refereed. We have long despaired at the way lower league referees seem to dictate as opposed to control a game, and in the second half this guy just lost his way totally.

In the end there were 8 bookings, with Tate, Wood, Britton, Howard and Watkin all collecting yellow cards for the Swans. Watkin's was the result of comments made about the free kick that brought the goal, and Tate's was from a fracas with Martin Thomas, but the others were due to fairly innocuous tackles. Of the three Exeter bookings, surely Flack must have had a halo around him as he continued to infringe throughout the second half, including a couple of hand balls, and was never spoken to again.

The standard of refereeing was appalling and was closely matched by the Assistant Referee on our side of the field. Decisions made by both against Swansea and Exeter often bore no resemblance whatsoever to the situation, and the frustration on the field was clear. The referee's decision either side of the break, to see how many names he could write in his little book in the shortest possible time really put an end to this contest as a football match, and the game degenerated into an drab affair. The inconsistency in his decision making was woeful.

All this however does not detract from the fact that we had players who should have enabled us to win this game, and yet we never looked like doing so. An after match analysis ready made for clichιs we would imagine, but we just didn't have the stomach to listen.

The 5/600 Swans fans that made the journey swelled the crowd to a still poor 2,600, but why did two coach loads arrive right on cue for the half time oranges? We may never know.

Thinking back, as we walked along the seafront at Burnham-on-Sea back towards the cars, there was a string of fishermen standing at the water's edge, looking out over a grey sea, with low cloud, no sign of a horizon, and next to no fish. Says it all really.

Freestone - 6 - Little to do, no chance with goal. Kicked out poorly in second half.

  Evans - 5 - Good first half, poor second half.
Howard - 5 - Got forward at every opportunity in first half, hardly crossed the halfway line second half.
O'Leary - 4 - Missed an opportunity to perform in Smith's absence. 
Tate - 7 - Won everything in the air. Still looked a cut above the rest of the defence, but obviously missed Smudger.

  Britten - 8 - Chased for 90 minutes. Great touch, too often broke in dangerous areas but found himself isolated by lack of support from those supposed to be around him. Looked head and shoulders above all bar Tate on the field.
Mumford - 4 - Very poor opening, nasty looking injury saw him substituted.
Phillips - 5 - Hardly saw him for 90 minutes. Won about half of the tackles young Britten did.

  Wood - 4 - Terrible control, never looked comfortable wide right midfield and no excuses for being so slow to join attacks. 
Thomas - 6 - Started OK, but drifted right out of things.
Murphy - 5 - Won a few headers and worked hard, stretchered off second half. 

  Subs
Reid - 5 - Involved more than Mumford had been previously, but that wasn't saying much. 
Watkin - 4 - Never looked like scoring his FIRST of the season. 
Steins - 4 - Hardly saw the ball and in fairness to him didn't receive one decent pass or through ball.   

Exeter City  1 - 0  Swansea City

Exeter City deservedly ensured Swansea's run of not having won away from home all season continued in a 1-0 victory at St James Park.

In a game played mostly in driving rain, Exeter created the better chances and should have won far more comfortably.

Just when the visitors looked to have done enough to hold out for a much-needed point, Exeter were awarded an indirect free-kick inside the penalty area after a foul on Santos Gaia.

Carl Pettefer rolled a short pass to Andy Roscoe and he ferociously drove the ball into the back of the net.

Swansea's closest attempt at goal was a close-range header from veteran substitute Steve Watkin that just went over the crossbar.

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