Match report

Swansea 1 Macclesfield Town 0

The Famous Five

Well all that was really ever going to matter today was the result, and maybe the size of the crowd, so anyone not wanting to read anything more, look at the line up, and know that Murphy scored his first league goal for us with a flying header in the dying minutes. I would say here that no one is more delighted by the three points than we are; it's too early to claim it as a turning point, but at least it has stopped the bad run.

There were a couple of changes in the line up from recent matches, with the most surprising probably being the appearance of Murphy in the starting line up, in a striker's role.

3,526 fans turned up today in poor weather, and throughout the game they got behind the team, even though for long periods, they would have been well justified in being very vocally critical. No player or board member could complain at the reaction of today's crowd, which in showing an increase of 105 over the Kidderminster gate also brought in an additional £1,050 or so, which is very welcome at the moment.

It would have been very disappointing if stay away fans had undone the excellent achievement by the Trust in raising £3,000 by yesterday, but that was not the case, and the fans are being very supportive. The crowd may not have reached the 4,500 that the board had hoped for, but it was up on the last game, and that is an important start.

Now for those that want a bit more meat on the bone, read on.

It is a pity that the attitude of the fans in doing their bit to help retain league football in Swansea could not be seen in of all the Swans' players' on the field, and after 15 minutes of fairly dire football by both sides, I swear there was a rush for standing order forms to boost the loan fund, although the money could equally well be directed towards the 'let's buy them out of their contracts' appeal.

There was no pattern in our play, and even though we can all understand the pressure that the players are under at the moment, very few of them looked as if they were fighting for their own or the club's survival. Murphy and Cash showed no appetite for a challenge at all, and whilst the performance of other players was poor, there was a bit of effort coming in from most. It is not pretty to watch; if it was we wouldn't be bottom, and none of us really go expecting a feast of football. What we do want to see though is passion, and the lack of that apparently greatly surprised the Kidderminster players.

We created nothing, and Thomas lived off scraps throughout. Murphy, playing alongside him, looked uncomfortable, and off the pace and there were occasions when his timing, in jumping to head a ball, resembled a film where the sound and picture are not quite synchronised. One fan in front of us reckoned he looked more like a Smurf than a Murph.

The first half produced little excitement, but we were kept in the game just before the break by a terrific save by Freestone, who had certainly returned to something near his best form today – when it mattered. Thomas had one good close range shot saved, but other than that it was the familiar story of a lack of cohesion in our play.

There were two half time substitutions, with Wood replacing Cash, who was out of the game totally for the first 45 minutes, showing no signs of the pace and desire to attack that prompted his acquisition on loan. Mumford also appeared as a replacement for Jenkins, which was surprising as Jenkins had been as effective as any player up until then.

It transpired that the midfielder had a gash on his leg requiring seven stitches, so the decision was not as strange as appeared at the time.

With the weather deteriorating, so did the quality of the football. We had a few shots on goal, although they were generally from some distance and all comfortably dealt with by the Macclesfield keeper.

We did allow Macclesfield too much space and again gave the ball away far too often, putting us under pressure unnecessarily. Freestone made another excellent save in the second half, and also collected a high ball very well in the difficult conditions.

The game seemed to be drifting towards a 0-0 draw, but with just 5 minutes remaining of normal time, Howard, who had been very quiet, troubled the opposition keeper on the by-line, hit a hard ball across the goal, and Murphy threw himself at the ball to head home what proved to be the winner.

Whether it was deserved, we don't care, and anyway it's irrelevant, we got three points. Macclesfield's shirts were a very unusual bright orange, (and if you had been watching on TV you would have adjusted the colour), but for long periods it was us that looked as if we'd been Tango'd. At the start of the game we were all pleased to see that today's opponents were no Kidderminster, and the reality is, it's just as well. Now we have to start the work to make sure that when we do have our next encounter with a higher-class team, we are ready for the challenge. Fight can make up for a lot of skill deficiencies, and we just need a bit more of that at the moment.

Worth a mention is Stuart Jones' performance, which was very credible. He looked calm, and composed, and his clearances from defence, which were low as opposed to sky rockets, did give us more than the usual 50/50 chance of retaining possession. His legs gave up on him towards the end, but he played well.

Player ratings:

• Freestone  - 8 - Saved our skins more than once. Back at something like his best. 
• Jones - 7 - Looked accomplished and a great prospect for the future. Tired visibly in the last 20 minutes.
• Howard - 4 - Poor game, all forgotten when he chased a lost cause to set up the goal. 
• O'Leary – 4 - Poor game and the clean sheet was not down to him today. 
• Smith - 5 - Started well but made more mistakes than usual for him. 
• Cash - 3 - Never in game. Backed out of more than one 50-50 challenge again.
• Reid - 5 - Not at his best again. To his credit he is never afraid to get involved. 
• Phillips – 5 - Doesn't seem to be as committed as last year which is amazing considering the club's predicament.
• Jenkins - 6 - Not sure at the time why he went off at half time, but a leg injury was later revealed. Was the pick of a poor midfield at that stage. 
• Thomas – 7 - Battled hard on scraps. Gets no service from midfield/wings. 
• Murphy – 5 - His goal turned around what was at best an average game. 

• Mumford - 6 -Looked at little better than of late, but way off last years form. 
• Wood – 5 - Forced to play wide right and didn't look at home there. Tried hard to his credit.      

Gary Martin

Not so much a match report as there wasn't much action to report on - so more an "observations from the North Bank."

First thing I noticed was the sparse crowd, which was even less when you discount the free entry kids.

Flynn probably told the team to line up as 4-3-3 but with Cash playing anonymously deep, it was 4-4-2 for the whole of the first half.

Flynn's bold experiment to try Murphy as an attacking partner for Thomas, looked doomed to failure on the first half showing.

The game was largely played in midfield for most of the first half with Macclesfield looking the sligfhtly more inventive when approaching goal. Some profligacy by their forwards, coupled with an outstanding save from Roger ensured that we ended the half 0-0.

The thing that had impressed me most about the visitors was their step over dummies which opened us up once or twice. Clearly a manifestation of their training ground coaching.

Us? We tried to play the ball along the ground where possible - but not always accurately - and far too often it was left to O'Leary to bomb the ball aimlessly upfield instead of the midfield crafters, demanding a short ball from him to take on distributional duties.

First obstacle to the toilets was Huw and Ron suitably bucketed collecting for the fund. The talk in the toilets was how dreadful we were and when were the players going to get us out of this situation instead of asking the fans.

I didn't share the view that we had been dreadful - we were poor, but not as result of not trying.

Second half saw Flynn replace Cash with Wood and Jenkins with Mumford. Neither made any real difference. It is a sad indictment but Marilyn Monroe would probably have shown more interest and got hold of the ball more than Cash did!

This was my first viewing of the Forest youngster and I was expecting better things. Still, it wasn't just his performance that was irritating the crowd.

Right up to the time we scored, a lot of the fans were extremely unforgiving of the conditions and the players' efforts - save for Roger make another 2 fine saves to keep us in the game.

With time running out, we looked set end up with a fairly worthless point, until Howard chased what looked like a lost cause.

A ball down the left saw their keeper come running out of his area to clear, but Howard making the most of the wet and slippery conditions, used his backside to good effect as a kind of a bobsleigh.

This diminutive missile sliding prostrate along the surface caused the keeper to fear for his safety and instead of clearing the ball, decided to bottle out.

Howard met the ball and propelled it towards the by-line. It looked as if the slippery surface would propel the ball behind for a goal kick, but Howard manages to get to his feet and stop it inches from the line.

He had time to look up and send in the perfect ball for the on-rushing Murphy to launch himself and guide the ball into the empty net with his head.

Murphy's celebrations and the team's reaction were a joy to behold. Their doubts and lack of self confidence were visibly lifted.

To say Swansea deserved the goal wouldn't be true - Macclesfield had created the clear cut openings - but Roger back to his best on reaction saves was to thank for that.

Murphy did improve as the game went on and in the last quarter was looking comfortable playing the Cusack role up front - winning balls in the air trying to place it for others.

Those that deserved a pat on the back today were:- Roger, Jones, Howard for his set up, Phillips for his running, Murphy for imporoving as the game went on and Thomas for his willingness to shoot at every opportunity.

Those that deserved a cowpat on the back:- Cash, Mumford and possibly Wood.

Swansea 1 Macclesfield 0
Soccernet

A goal by Matt Murphy late in the game gave struggling Swansea a welcome 1-0 victory against a poor Macclesfield side.

With time running out in a hard-fought affair, the winner arrived when visiting goalkeeper Steve Wilson was caught in possession by Michael Howard and his cross into the box was headed in by the unmarked Murphy.

The home side's hero was veteran goalkeeper Rodger Freestone who made two superb stops either side of the interval to keep Macclesfield out.

As the first half came to a close he leapt to his left to tip over a Danny Whittaker header and then midway through the second half he pushed over an 18-yard half-volley from Matthew Tipton.