Match report

Match Report by Nigel Gigg, Photo's from Andrew Thomas

With 5000 Jacks it really felt like Swansea v Bury. A terrific away day support turned Bury, black, white and red, as if the players couldn't perform today…….

After a disappointing performance in the last League game at the Vetch last week Swans had to forget the maths and go out and perform today egged on by the biggest away following in many years.

Subs: Murphy - Anderson - Gurney - McLeod - Connor

Swans couldn't have had a better start. Bury kicked off and won a throw in wide on the right. Leon Britton incepted the throw in and found Kris O'Leary who hit a brilliant thirty yard through ball for Adrian Forbes to run on to, he headed the ball on, before hitting an unstoppable right foot drive beyond Glyn Garner in the Bury goal. The goal sparked huge celebration and not unsurprisingly a pitch invasion from hundreds of Swans fans. Jackett had immediately been vindicated in playing Forbes up front.

Swansea were indeed playing 4-3-3 with Forbes up front alongside Thorpe with Trundle either wide left of just behind the front two. However, the boggy pitch was making life difficult, especially for Lee Trundle.

After the excitement of the goal the game settled down with Bury, like Oxford, Shrewsbury and Bristol Rovers in recent weeks looking totally committed.

The pitch was extremely boggy in places and a strong wind made life difficult for both teams.

After sixteen minutes Bury almost equalised. A Bury free kick was headed just wide, with Willy seemingly beaten.

Despite looking dangerous on the break Swansea were finding it difficult to hold onto the ball, and Bury were starting to get on top, both possession wise and territorially.

Swansea instead of pushing on to score more goals, looked happy to sit back, and several players were guilty of time wasting even at this early stage.

In the last fifteen minutes of the half, Swansea regained control of the game; with Leon prompting well from midfield and Trundle finally getting into the game. However, we failed to turn possession into meaningful shots on goal.

With two minutes of injury time played Bury should have equalised. Garry Monk missed his header and Bury’s Ricky Shakes had an easy header from just six yards. His downward header hit Willy's legs, with Willy not really knowing much about it.

Swansea reached half-time 1-0 up and with Southend 0-0 at half-time the "P" word was in everyone's thoughts, if not on their lips.

The first half had seen five players booked from an over fussy referee who was taking no account of the poor bumpy and boggy surface.

The Swans started the second half well, and earned a free-kick just outside the box after Forbes was bough down. Trundle's free-kick hit the hand of one of the defenders in the wall, but the referee saw no offence.

Bury then hit back with a period of pressure but good defending from Garry Monk in particular, kept Bury at bay.

On fifty-five minutes, news quickly reached everyone that Grimsby had taken the lead against Southend. This news was greeted like a Swansea goal, and then there was almost a double celebration when a Garry Monk header from a corner was cleared off the line.

Lee Thorpe chased a lost cause on sixty-two minutes, and helped present Lee Trundle with a chance, but the ball got stuck under his boot with the goal at his mercy.

On sixty-seven minutes, Kevin McLeod replaced Lee Trundle. Trundle had not had a good game, and was often isolated on the left.

With ten minutes to play and the Swans having defended superbly the defence was almost undone by Bury’s Colin Richards. He somehow ran through 3 or 4 challenges with the ball bouncing fortuitously for him every time. He eventually laid the ball off to Shakes who fired over from twelve yards.

The Swans created the better chances in a frantic last ten minutes, during which the eager fans were encroaching toward the edge of the pitch, holding up play while a combination of stewards, police and Lee Trundle did their best to get the fans back behind the advertising hoardings.

News that Southend had finished 1-1 only added to the torture everyone was going through. But after what seemed like ten minutes injury time, the referee finally blew his whistle to give the Swans a 1-0 win, and Promotion to League One.

There then followed the most bizarre of post-match celebrations. With thousands of Swans fans singing and partying on the pitch, the players eventually joined the party from the directors' box.

One or two jumped over onto the roof of the supporter’s bar, but retreated when spoken to by stewards.

After no more than five minutes of enjoying the champagne and partying the police decided the party was over and stepped in in numbers, pushing all the players towards the exit. This sparked an angry reaction from fans and players alike and led to a bare-chested Willy Gueret being handcuffed and manhandled away by six to eight officers.

The police action unsurprisingly resulted in a surge by several Swansea fans and a hail of coins. The police responded by drawing their truncheons and quickly brought the celebrations to a close. It was no surprise that there was further trouble outside the ground, as Swans fans made their way out past line after line of riot clad police officers.

I have no idea why the police chose to break up a trouble free post match party in this way. Back in 2000 the promotion party was cut short with news of the tragic death of Terry Coles at Rotherham. Once more the feeling of euphoria has been sullied by police action, and I have no doubt that if the police decide to hold an inquiry into the post match fiasco they will find no fault in their own actions.

Looking back at the football, it was a memorable day, if not a classic performance although the Swans showed the commitment that was so lacking at Bristol.

Gueret - 7 - Kept a clean sheet if not a clean record today.
Ricketts - 6 - One or two errors, but never stopped trying.
Iriekpen - 9 - Perhaps he should get flu more often, outstanding today, and didn't put a foot wrong.
Monk - 7 - Very good game but for one error in the first half that nearly cost us dearly.
Austin - 7 - Solid as ever.

Britton - 8 - Did really well both in defence and going forward, and gave us so many more options.
Martinez - 7 - Held the midfield together with a tidy performance on a bog of a pitch.
O'Leary - 7 - Usual no nonsense performance.

Forbes - 8 - Took his goal brilliantly, and never stopped running for ninety minutes.
Thorpe - 6 - Struggled on the difficult surface, but another who gave 100% on the day.
Trundle - 6 - Asked to play in a more withdrawn role out on the left. On today’s evidence, not one to back in a bog snorkelling race.

Subs: McLeod - 7 - Held the ball up really well, and helped to relieve the pressure.
Connor - 7 - Again retained the ball well.
Anderson - Not sure if he touched the ball in the thirty seconds he was on.

This has been Nigel Gigg reporting from Gigg Lane - sorry but that's been something I've wanted to say for years (forty-eight precisely!).