Match report

Swansea v Northampton - Nigel Gigg

As the season meanders to a close, warm sunshine gave the Vetch a sub-tropical feel - well perhaps not.

Northampton included former Swans player Marc Richards in the starting line up, and Des Lyttle on the bench. They also included ex-Cardiff player Josh Low who caused us enormous problems earlier in the season at Northampton.

Swans were without the injured Andy Robinson and dropped Lee Fieldwick in favour of Izzy Iriekpen. Brian Murphy was preferred to Roger Freestone no doubt in the hope of providing him with a chance to show his worth without the usual pressure.

Swans had settled into the game quickly despite a couple of players playing out of positions. Swansea were having much the better of things at this stage, with Brad Maylett virtually a spectator with Kris O'Leary, Leon Britton and Roberto Martinez dominating the midfield.

Swans had further efforts from Izzy blocked, and a header from Paul Connor that looked goalbound but floated just wide of the far post.

On twenty-five minutes the most bizarre of incidents, when the fourth official called the referee over, who after speaking to the Northampton manager, Colin Calderwood, dismissed him to the stands. As he was leaving he got into a wrestling match with a Swansea steward before pushing his way through the Swans half of the Director's box to get into the Northampton half of the box.

Calderwood was obviously distraught to see his team totally outplayed for the first thirty minutes of a game that meant so much to a Northampton side aiming for the play-offs.

On thirty-five minutes with virtually their first attack Northampton took the lead courtesy of Jonathan Coates, who fell totally asleep letting Eric Sabin in behind him to slot the ball past Brian Murphy.

On forty minutes the Swans looked to have levelled when Connor's header was volleyed goalbound by Trundle from just three yards, but he hit the defender on the line and the ball ballooned behind for a corner.

Just before half-time the soft underbelly of our centre defence opened up to present Sabin with a fairly easy opportunity.

So after totally dominating the game Swans found themselves 2-0 down.

At half-time Karl Connolly replaced Izzy Iriekpen who had limped through the later stages of the first half and may well have contributed to the second goal.

Would the second half see the Swans come out with the attitude of having been robbed and determined to get something out the game? Or more probably that we'd feel sorry for ourselves, heads would drop and the game would die a death.

On sixty minutes Sabin almost grabbed the easiest hat-trick he'd ever score but his free header was excellently saved by Brian Murphy.

On sixty-five minutes Sabin ran down the left and waltzed passed Stuart Jones. Jones then caught his ankle giving the referee the easiest decision of the day.

Martin Smith hit the spot kick a yard wide of the post, with one of the worst penalties seen at the Vetch in years.

Surely this could spur some reaction from what was becoming a beleaguered team. You would of thought so, but no. On seventy minutes Antonio Corbisiero replaced Stuart Jones who had had a poor second half cumulating in the gifting of the penalty.

From there on we created one or two half chances but never really looked like scoring. It was once more a pitiful second half display. Again Stuart Roberts was left on the bench with Brad Maylett, in particular, providing nothing in the second half and being an obvious candidate for substitution.

Before the end half the fans had already left.

Kenny Jackett now has a record of five defeats in five games, and the end of the season can't come soon enough. Are the board panicking yet?


Murphy - 6 - Let down by those in front of him, one terrific save.
Jones - 4 - A million miles from the players he was at the start of the season.
Tate - 6 - Involved in the mix up for the second goal.
Iriekpen - 5 - Carried on too long after picking up his injury.
Coates - 2 - If the jury was out on Coatesy securing his contracts, Jackett will be wearing a black hat for their forthcoming meeting.

Maylett - 5 - Decent first half but totally non-existant second half, again.
O'Leary - 4 - Distribution woeful at times.
Martinez - 5 - A shadow of the player he was last year.
Britton - 6 - Probably the pick of a poor midfield.

Trundle - 6 - Better than of late, probably needs a bit of luck to get him going again.
Connor - 7 - Man of the match for effort alone.

Subs:
Connolly - 4 - Again, contract up for renewal and sealed his own feat, if it wasn't already secured.
Corbisiero - 5 - Looked ill at ease in an unaccustomed right back role.

Finally a word about hospitality, which I had the opportunity to enjoy today courtesy of Dai Smith and scfc.co.uk - I am sorry to say, along with so much else at the club, this has gone downhill. Depressingly it seems the club is going backward both on and off the field from today's evidence.

By Clive Gareth & David Hughes

Being Swans fans is not that easy lately, we look for that lucky heather, or an omen that could change our luck. Well on this hot sunny day, could we have had that omen, as a late change in family plans brought us to South Wales a week earlier than expected. Could we see that first win under Kenny Jackett, ending our dismal run?

As predicted on Friday, Coates played left back with O’Leary moving into midfield, and Kenny gave Murphy his first start under his management.

The Swans started well, but it was Northampton who got in the first attempt on goal, with Smith shooting over. It was not much later, as the Swans mounting pressure started to tell on a very nervous looking Cobblers defence, as within the first 15mins we had at least half a dozen chances at goal. None really threatened a goal, as the final effort was missing, but at least chances were being made. Marc Richards nearly marked his return to the Vetch when cutting in from the right sent a powerful shot past Murphy at the near post, only to see off side had been given.

Things were a bit niggly, but didn’t come to the boil, not on the pitch anyway. Off it was a different matter. Manger Colin Calderwood seemed to be having a verbal battle with the fourth official, the result being the referee sending him off. As he made his way to the stands he was still ranting and raving and as he was being ushered by a steward seemed to throw a punch. FA charge maybe? Back on the pitch Northampton didn’t stay goal less for long as Sabin left the defence stranded as he shot from inside the area, giving Murphy no chance. So it started to look like another of those games where we would huff and puff but not produce the goods. Northampton now took control as our play became more desperate, as the promising effort seemed to be fading fast. Although in control Northampton didn’t test Murphy and it did seem as if we could reach half time without any further setbacks. It was not to be as Richards put Sabin, through and indecision between Murphy and his defenders saw him score his second from 6 yards. Half time came with the score line 0-2 and that early flourish a distant memory. Iriekpen who had gone down twice in the first half was replaced by Connolly, with Jones moving central and O’Leary going to right back.

Any thoughts of us getting back into the game were soon quashed as the performance went down hill fast. Passes were wasted, as we seemed only too happy to give the ball away. It was a surprise that Northampton didn’t go to kill the game off, but then in reality it was over as a contest. On the hour Sabin again left the defence for dead, and was brought down inside the area by Jones, who received a yellow card. Smith sent the ball wide of the post, to at least give the Swans fans something to cheer in the second half. It was degenerating into a very poor second half performance, as any semblance of build up play was lost. Both Martinez and Trundle wasted free kicks, and with 15mins to go Jones was replaced by Corbisiero who went right back and O ’Leary moving central for his third position of the game. With the game already won there was a slight flurry from the Swans with one cross shot/pass from Trundle beating the far post.

Mercifully the game ended without further Northampton score. At the final whistle their fans celebrated knowing they were still in with a chance of the play-offs, with us again left with ‘what might have been’.

Another report where we comment that we were beaten by a team that was not skilfully better than us, but were more streetwise and physically stronger.

Man for man, we lost the battle. It really is painful to say, but many players do put effort in but when it comes to 50/50 balls shirk their responsibilities.

Team comments

Murphy. Had very little to do, but pulled off 2 excellent reaction saves. Still stuck to his line though.

Jones. Has not developed as we first thought and positional sense is weak.

Tate. Again not the Tate of last season, needs a father figure alongside

Ireikpen. Good in the air and fast on the ground, but reading of the game is weak.

Coates. Not a left back. But could we have missed something as Josh Low destroyed as at Sixfields but was anonymous today.

Maylett. Our man of the match. Tracked back and did run at the defence.

Martinez. Started well, but flatters to deceive, wants more time than he has, and passes to players under pressure, or a killer ball that is not read by the players. Continually moaned at the referee. At the final whistle again went to the ref, and then sulked off without a second glance to the Swans apart from a couple of claps as he got to the tunnel.

O’Leary. Showed that he is a squad player by playing in 3 positions but did underhit a back pass which could have resulted in a goal

Britton. Boy against men.

Connor. Again flatters to deceive. Very little end result.

Trundle. The novelty wore off long ago. Too interested in tricks. At one stage he had six defenders around him. That would normally mean players were free. King Lee tries to beat them all.

Subs
Connolly. Sorry thanks but good-bye.

Corbisiero. Maybe to early to say but nothing seen yet.

Many players this season played their part in keeping us in the league last year. Every game was a battle, the end result was unthinkable. This season those same players have not shown the same qualities. We will not get out of this division by just being a fancy skilful team.

We hope Kenny gets the balance right over the summer.

Now anyone got that lucky heather?

Fans comments.

A crowd of just under 5,000 with approx 600 from Northampton.

Excellent support from the Swans fans in the first half and a good crowd considering the season is over.

A plus point for the many Cobblers fans, who joined in, encouraging the mascots (especially Sam) at half time

One last comment

How different we felt 10 years ago

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