Match report

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Swansea City 2 Lincoln 2

By the family Gigg

The first Saturday of real footballing weather saw Swansea welcome Lincoln to the Vetch and the hope extending the winning sequence to 6 games at home.

The injury problems show little sign of improvement, with Kieron Durkan joining the ever-lengthening queue in the sick- room, and Richard Jones making his first appearance on the substitutes bench following his loan deal from Southampton.

Before the start Swans problems looked as if they were likely top be on the flanks, with no natural wide player in the starting line-up or on the bench. Our 4-man midfield incorporating 4 players who seem better suited to a central midfield role.

Lincoln arrived with a reputation of being tight at the back and we all anticipated their usual route one approach.

Line up-

Swans settled slowly playing into a strong wind against a strong extremely fit looking Lincoln side. Lincoln's direct style combined with the awkward wind caused us several early problems and after just 10 minutes a woeful goal-kick from Roger was played straight to Lincoln's striker Richardson and he failed to make the most of his chance presenting Howard with the opportunity to clear. He failed miserably and after several attempts to clear Butcher eventually put the ball away.

Two minutes later and Duffy let the ball hit his hand in the area and perhaps harshly the referee gave a penalty. The fullback Mayo made no mistake with a well-taken spot-kick although Roger did get a hand to it, but failed to keep the ball from crossing the line.

Just four minutes later and swans were back in the game. A great run by Leon Britton, a super dummy by Mark Wilson, and a wonderfully hit half volley by Andy Robinson found the corner of the net.

For the remainder of the half, Lincoln's athletic and physical approach, caused Swansea constant problems, and referee provided little support to their aggressive style. Too often Swansea were being muscled out of position.

Virtually ever through-ball resulted in an infringement by a Lincoln defender, and it seemed unbelievable that the first booking of the game was against Nugent for innocuous off the ball incident.

Just before half time, another comedy classic in defence with Roger leaving a free kick to go over his head not realising a Lincoln player was waiting behind him, but thankfully his goal-bound header was cleared off the line by O'Leary.

Half time arrived with Flynn sure to want more fight and more support for the front 2 from the midfield.

The 2nd half began as the 1st half ended, with Swansea unable to break down Lincoln's strong physical defending. Lincoln's attacking, more often than not, was through the aerial route with the ball often pumped 50feet skyward and forward.

On 62 minutes the ref. finally lost patience with Lincoln fullback Mayo with what must have been his 6th or 7th foul. Within 60seconds the same player pulled down Leon Britton from behind, and was justifiably shown his 2nd yellow card.

On 65 minutes, Lee Jenkins replaced Duffy, who had had a poor game by his recent high standards.

On 70 minutes Swans got their reward for a spirited 2nd half performance when Trundle turned well and shot. It appeared his shot was going across goal and possibly wide, but it was turned into the net by centre-half Futcher.
For the last 20 minutes, Swans dominated possession but never really looked like scoring other than a header from Nugent in the 90th minute, which came back off the post.

• Freestone – 5 – Not his best game, by some margin
• Duffy – 5 – Not what we have come to expect in recent weeks
• Iriekpen – 9 – Didn't put a foot wrong all afternoon
• O'Leary – 7 – One or two hairy moments, but generally had a good game
• Howard – 6 – Shares responsibility with Roger for the 1st goal
• Britton – 6 – No protection from the referee until the 2nd half
• Wilson – 6 – Didn't show enough fight but got better as the game went on
• Johnrose – 7 – Solid. Broke up many of Lincoln's attacks
• Robinson – 7 – Took his goal well, and supported the front two at every opportunity
• Nugent – 7 – Another hardworking performance
• Trundle – 7 – Not his day, but yet another goal

  Subs-

• Jenkins – 8 – Opened things up on the right when he came on

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