Match report

After the Hull game two years ago, I promised myself I'd never let football get to me the way it did that week. After all, the clubs very existence was in the balance then.

Here we are two years later and football, or more importantly Swansea City again is dominating my thoughts and my life. The club has made tremendous steps forward in the last two years and is now on the verge of promotion.

Everything is set up for promotion, and the squad, by and large, looks strong enough to cope with League One football. The crowds are back in numbers and a magnificent new stadium awaits. All we need now…....
Today's game against Bristol Rovers should have been a meaningless end of season game for them in front of a half empty stadium with several youngsters given a run out. With Ian Atkins in charge that was never going to happen. Atkins is still fuming at Lee Trundle's twice taken penalty at the Vetch and has no doubt wound up the Bristol players and fans all week.

So we face a full strength Rovers side in front of a large crowd at the Memorial Ground. The Swans travelling support were in excellent voice but their number were limited to 1300. Along with many others I had trouble getting a ticket. My ticket was claimed by my eldest Becky who made the short trip from Bath, leaving me with no choice but to beg, steal or borrow in the hunt for a ticket.

Eventually my ticket was obtained in the Bristol Centenary Stand and I took the opportunity to bring along my assistant, Teresa, from my Bristol office. Teresa had never seen a live football match and her only previous visit to a football ground was a mini tour of the Vetch Field on a wet Wednesday morning, when she had the pleasure of watching Eddie, the groungsman, taking pot shots at the pigeons with his air rifle.

The Memorial Ground pitch, as anticipated, looked a disgrace, with tons of sodden sand across the entire surface. Swans kept the same side and substitutes as they fielded against Oxford. Rovers had ex-Swan Christian Edwards in defence, and danger-man Junior Agogo in attack.

Swansea started well and forced an early free-kick just outside the box. Andy Robinson's shot was easily saved by goalkeeper Ryan Clarke at the expense of a corner. On five minutes a defensive clearance by Rovers centre-half Steve Elliott almost gave the Swans the lead and beat the despairing dive of Clarke, but went just wide of the post. Junior Agogo then had a chance after poor defending presented him with a chance but he blasted over with a left foot shot from fifteen yards.

Swans were looking the better side and were not allowing Rovers to settle on the ball. It came as a surprise, therefore, on fifteen minutes that Rovers took the lead. Lee Thorpe had an easy clearance to make from a Rovers free-kick, but he horribly sliced his clearance straight to Richard Walker standing by the penalty spot. He made no mistake.

Swans players looked distraught as yet again a sliced clearance had cost us a goal, but with seventy-five minutes to play the Swans had plenty of time to turn things around.

On twenty-six minutes things went from bad to worse. After two or three opportunities to clear the ball, Swans allowed Agogo the chance to play the ball out wide. The defence was virtually static as the ball was played back in, and Agogo had an easy free header that he directed beyond the diving Willy.

The second goal seemed to have knocked the last of the stuffing out of a now sad looking Swansea team. With Lee Trundle marked by two or three Rovers players, Thorpe failing to win the ball in the air and both he and Adrian Forbes failing to get past their markers, things didn’t look too good.

Swans only threat seemed to come from the numerous free-kicks they were winning around the box. However, these were time and time again wasted by Andy Robinson.

A comical error from Kris O'Leary almost gifted Rovers a third, but Dave Savage fired wide. Lee Thorpe became the first player to be booked, on forty-one minutes, for the umpteenth foul he committed. If there were prizes were indiscretion Thorpe may have thought he’d win it until Andy Robinson stepped up to the plate.

On forty-three minutes Sam Ricketts was bought down by Ryan Williams. It was Williams' third bad challenge, and no doubt he should have been booked. With Ricketts climbing to his feet and Williams retreating, Andy Robinson needlessly approached Williams, and certainly pushed his head out towards Williams's.

Whether there was contact it was difficult to tell. But Robinson had no reason to go anywhere near Williams. Robinson reacted as we have come to expect. He pushed the referee and then had to be restrained by four or five Swansea players, as he made efforts to get at Williams. Rumours of a further fracas with a steward as Robinson was going down the tunnel would surprise nobody.

After his sending off at Shrewsbury, his indiscretions on the Kingsway and now this, his long-term future at Swansea must now be in doubt.
Half time came as something of a relief and after looking ok for fifteen minutes we had been nothing short of dire after the first goal. The news that none of our promotion rivals were ahead at half-time did little to lift the mood.

The ineffective Lee Thorpe was substituted at half-time by Kevin McLeod. The second half started as the first ended. Sam Ricketts had his turn now, gifting the ball to Agogo but thankfully he lost possession and the ball was cleared.

Kenny Jackett made the final roll of the dice in the game, with Leon Britton and Paul Connor replacing Roberto Martinez and Adrian Forbes. Trunds almost got Swansea back into the game on sixty-two minutes with a well struck free-kick that was deflected for a corner. Izzy met the corner perfectly but his point blank header was brilliantly saved by Ryan Clarke.

Paul Connor was booked on sixty-eight minutes for a poor challenge, but the referee took no action against the Rovers players who reacted poorly with arm swinging.

The second half performance was an improvement on the first, but Rovers seemed more content to sit back and try to catch Swans on the break. With twelve minutes to go, Swans had their best chance when Trundle fed Paul Connor who had made an excellent run, but with just the keeper to beat he fired wide.

Rovers James Hunt got himself a red card for kicking out at Izzy after the ball had gone, but with just a couple of minutes to go, it seemed too little too late for the Swans.

Overall today's performance was disappointing. The defence was at sea and Lee Trundle virtually had no support up front.

Gueret - 6 - Did ok, not at fault for the goals.
Ricketts - 5 - Still way off his best.
Monk - 6 - Just about the pick of a poor defence.
Iriekpen - 5 - Given a roasting by Agogo too often.
Austin - 4 - His worst games for a while. Again troubled time and again by Agogo.

Robinson - 2 - Until he learns to control himself he'll not be taken seriously
as a professional footballer. One day there won’t be a colleague to hold him back and God alone knows what he’ll do then.
O'Leary - 7 - Battled throughout and showed the never say die attitude that you would have expected from the other 13 players.
Martinez - 5 - Being kind, the surface made life difficult for his passing game.
Forbes - 4 – Hugely disappointing. Never in the game and his biggest contribution was stopping Robinson committing GBH.

Trundle - 6 - Given little or no support.
Thorpe - 3 - Very poor, failed to win the ball in the air, and constantly gave away free-kicks.

Subs:
McLeod - 6 - Didn't impose himself as much as we would have hoped, but had some nice touches
Connor - 5 - Gave 100% but yet again guilty of one glaring miss.
Britton - 6 - Got forward far more than Martinez did, and offered some support to the front two.

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