Swansea 3 Oxford 2

A game I could never see us winning (beforehand) should have been won more comfortably.

The 6000 (18 short) crowd made it a tremendous atmosphere at the rain-soaked Vetch tonight.

Swans took the game to Oxford and it was against the run of play that Oxford took the lead. A 80 yard dash from defence along the line by the right back saw his perfect cross struck neatly at the front post by their striker who left Smudger for dead in a race to meet the cross.

Justice was done when Richards netted at the other end from a fierce shot which looped slightly from a deflection as defender closed down his strike.

Man of the Match Johnrose gave the Swans the lead when he leapt like a salmon on a trampet at the far post to firmly nod home.

Minutes later Swans were awarded a pen (which could have been given just outside the box) and the midfielder that checked Maylett's run on goal was lucky to see only yellow.

A sweetly struck pen by Richards sent their keeper the wrong way for a 2 goal lead.

Maylett nearly made it 4-1 when his smart shot from the wing was tipped onto the crossbar by their busy keeper.

As the last 10 minutes approached, Oxford threw everything at us. Instead of replacing the ineffective Nugent with O'Leary, Flynn, Curtis and Reeves just watched the pressure build until Oxford finally took their chance.

The ref added 6 minutes on (one of the only refs I've seen add the proper time on) and still the 3 wise men made no change.

Swans held out for a magnificent win. The reaction of the players and fans at the final whistle rivalled the West Ham Fa Cup scenes.

We can/will stay up if this battling performance becomes the norm.

Player ratings:

Cutler 7 - steady enough with few saves to make
Jenks 7 - battled throughout
Howard 8 - got forward more in the first 20 mins than than in the whole
season previously.
Tate 7 - usual steady game
Smith 6 - not match fit yet
Martinez 8 - good controlling game with his fair share of tackles too
Britton - went off after 5 mins
Phillips (sub) 7 - good battling performance
Johnrose 9 - outstanding range of passing, heading and tackling
Maylett 7 - shone brightly in parts
Nugent 5 - won a "few" flick ons
Richards 7 - looked busy, didn't gel with Nugent at all for the first 20
minutes.

Flynn 4 - what's the point of having a manager that doesn't make any decisions?

Ref 8 - let the game flow as much as possible.

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