Match report

After Friday night’s superb win over in form Macclesfield confidence was high, at least in the Gigg household as Whaddon Road was one of our lucky grounds, having never seen the Swans lose there in our three previous visits.

The healthy away following of 1500 on the Swans’ terrace and in the stand were in great spirits and by all accounts numerous Jacks who had been unable to get tickets had gone ‘native’ and infiltrated the home end.

No surprise with the team selection with the same starting line-up from Friday. Marcus Bean returned from injury to take a seat on the bench in place of Adrian Forbes.

Side:

Cheltenham responded immediately and almost equalised with a header from Jamie Victory, which thankfully went wide. After eight minutes, referee Mr Steve Tanner decided to put his own mark on the game with the booking of Kristian O’Leary for obstruction. It was O’Leary’s first foul of the game and the referee could and probably should have just given the Swansea midfielder a lecture.

A few minutes later Lee Thorpe was lucky not to be carded when appearing to stand on a Cheltenham player lying on the pitch. Several Cheltenham players, and in particular their bench, were outraged that the referee had missed the incident. On fifteen minutes, Mr Tanner became the focal point again after being called over by the fourth official. He sent to the stands a little grey haired man who we assume to have been the Cheltenham manager, John Ward. Mr Ward had been particularly vociferous following the earlier incident involving Thorpe and whether he was sent to the stands for foul language or to save him from a heart attack, we are not sure.

Roberto Martinez became the second player to be booked for a challenge from behind.

Swans were having much the better of things at this stage but Cheltenham did look dangerous on the break. They almost equalised following a shot from David Bird, which hit the side netting. Against the run of play, they did equalise on 25 minutes. From a Swansea corner Roberto Martinez hit a wayward pass that was intercepted. Garry Monk was left with two Cheltenham players to mark. The ball was late through to Martin Devaney who was through one on one with Willy Gueret. Willy got a hand to Devaney’s shot but could not prevent the ball from crossing the line.

Whilst Roberto Martinez was obviously at fault for losing possession where oh where was the defence? If Izzy and Kevin Austin are to go up for corners where were the midfield players to cover them?

Swansea responded well to the setback and Kristian O’Leary almost restored the lead with a well struck shot. Ten minutes before half time, Paul Connor was booked for raising his foot in a challenge for the ball with Higgs. Had he not gone for the ball most Swans fans would have been critical. It was more or less a 50/50 ball.

Swans did create a couple of further chances before half time with a header from Connor and a shot from Robinson which was blocked.

Whilst Swansea had probably just about shaded the first half it was Mr Tanner who was becoming the game’s dominant figure. All too often infuriating the Swans’ players and fans with some of his decisions.

Swans would’ve felt agrieved at the referee’s handling of the game in the first half. However, it was important that they put this behind them and concentrated on playing football as they had done for the first twenty minutes of the game. With three players on yellow cards discipline would also need to be maintained.

The start of the second half saw the Swans fans and their team rather subdued for some reason. Once again the referee seemed determined to remain the centre of attention with some poor decisions. Cheltenham had now found a way of counteracting our front three and all too often we were unable to find our front runners.

On the hour, it was no surprise when Kenny Jackett replaced Paul Connor with Kevin McLeod and Lee Trundle was then moved to a more central position in attack. Within minutes of the substitution, Cheltenham almost scored but for a last ditch clearance on the line by Kevin Austin. Then Swansea won a free kick on the edge of the Cheltenham penalty area. Lee Trundle fired the ball goalward and it was deflected just wide of the post for a corner.

From the resultant corner Swans lost possession and once again were outnumbered as Cheltenham broke out. Within a couple of passes Cheltenham had freed Martin Devaney who was through on one-on-one with Willy. As Devaney was pulling his foot back for the shot Kris O’Leary who had raced fully 70 yards, dived in with a perfectly timed challenge to clear the ball. It really was a superb intervention and had to be timed perfectly in view of his earlier yellow card.

With twenty minutes to go, Marcus Bean replaced Roberto Martinez and shortly after Leon Britton came on for Andy Robinson. Bean had an immediate impact with a well struck shot that appeared goal bound but for a fine fingertip save by Higgs.

All three Swansea substitutes settled quickly and Swans were once more dominant. It was no surprise, but a great relief, when Swans took the lead in the 81st minute. Lee Trundle received the ball 15 yards out with his back to goal and turned and fired in a low shot that Higgs did well to parry. The quickest player to react was Leon Britton who bravely stooped to head home the rebound just evading Higgs’ valiant efforts. Leon celebrated with the Swansea fans behind the goal and appeared to be booked by Mr Tanner for his celebration. There was a further booking shortly after for a firm Kevin Austin challenge unbelievably giving a 5-0 booking count.

Swans held out fairly easily with Lee Trundle and Kevin McLeod in particular driving Cheltenham players up the wall with their ability to retain possession near the corner flag. Cheltenham’s patience finally snapped in injury time when Grant McCann lashed out at Lee Trundle near the corner flag with Trundle superbly shielding the ball. Mr Tanner really had no option other than to show McCann the red card. Several Cheltenham players reacted badly to the sending off making gestures towards Trundle, McLeod and even the Swans fans. Unfortunately, a few Swans fans responded by throwing plastic bottles onto the pitch.

The final whistle brought wonderful celebrations from the Swans players on the pitch and the fans in the terrace and the stand. But the day for me will be remembered for Leon’s smile lighting up Whaddon Road at full time.

Willy - 7 – Unlucky with the goal after getting a hand to Devaney’s shot.
Gurney – 7 – Another battling performance.
Monk – 8 – Pick of a solid defence.
Izzy – 7 – Decent game and played his part.
Austin – 8 – Another solid wholehearted display and kept Swans in the game at 1-1 with a goal line clearance.
Robinson – 7 – Created the first goal with an excellent cross but fairly quiet thereafter.
Martinez – 6 – Guilty of a dreadful pass that lead to Cheltenham’s goal.
O’Leary – 8 – Played well throughout and one again a superb Vierra like challenge that saved the day.
Connor – 6 – Not his day today.
Thorpe – 9 – Won just about every aerial challenge and never stopped running.
Trundle – 8 – Wouldn’t you just hate him if he played for the opposition.
Bean – 7 – Greatly improved display.
McLeod – 8 – Retained possession really well and looks to be developing an excellent relationship with Trundle.
Britton – 8 – If I could afford it, I’d pay for his contract myself!


A hard won victory after a poor away record of late. This was not a vintage performance but the hard work and will to win displayed by all 14 players was heartening. Finally, a pat on the back for the away support which once again made everybody proud to be a jack.



Cheltenham 1 Swansea City 2 - Richard of Warwick

Three very valuable points in the bag which could so easily have slipped away. All credit to the boys again. We came to attack playing 4-3-3 just as on Friday and started really well grabbing a good early goal from a Thorpe header following some good work by Andy Robinson.

We looked better than them and it was a shame that we rather took our foot off the throttle a bit and they managed to show a little more.

However, we continued to press way up the field and you would never have picked us out as the away team. They defended 11 back at corners and it seemed we attacked 10 up when we got a corner. That, in fact proved our downfall, when we lost the ball way upfield and they had a 70 yard open door to run at. Willy almost saved the shot but it sneaked in.

The ref and his linesmen then proceeded to ruin the game by being fussy and downright wrong far too often. He seemed to be an absolute homer and crowd and players were getting wound up by his silliness. This led to a whole series of Swans players being booked, some for very innocuous challenges. Earlier we had someone ejected from our standing end, presumably for celebrating our goal too enthusiastically. The jobsworth stewards made an even worse decision after the final whistle which I will come back to later.

We persevered with the same formation in the second half and our almost reckless pressing up the field almost gifted them the lead. The ball was lost at our short taken corner and again they broke away up the field with no defenders in sight. It looked a cert to be a repeat of their first goal but then Kristian O'Leary saved the day, making up half the length of the field to dive in with a last ditch tackle to stop an almost certain goal. On such moments promotions hinge. Well done Kristian, you deserve a medal just for that.

KJ was definately going for the win when he sent on McLeod, Bean and then Britton for Robinson, Martinez and Connor. Respect to those who went off, they had all played well.

It honestly did not look as if we would get the break we needed but then Trundle received the ball in the box with his back to goal. We all know what comes next and they do too of course. They did not jump in and a smart turn lost their defence and a smart shot brought a good save from their keeper diving to his left. As anticipation faded to disapointment Leon followed in bravely to get to the bouncing ball first and head firmly into the net. Cue delirium.

We played out the remaining time and added four minutes with a few minor scares. A bit of keep ball by Trundle and Mcleod in front of our packed support drove them nuts until McCann (I think it was)lost it completely and tried to kick Trundle's nuts into the crowd. He was quite rightly sent off which did seem to give our cheeky scousers a laugh.

Whoever threw the bottle then (granted it was plastic) and the coin needs to be sorted guys. Fines are bad enough but points deducted? Let's leave it!

a desreved win on the balance of play and certainly justice merely on the basis of our ambition away from home.

That said, who could blame our lads for thinking they were at home. 1600 of us 3000 of them and guess who made all the noise?

After the final whistle all the players and management stayed to applaud all our crowd. It went on so long you would have thought we had already gone up. Thanks lads, we are in this together and when you do that it does feel like that.

Unfortunately, one of our number crossed the white line in the middle of all this love-in and celebration to embrace Trundle. Hundreds were lined up on the touchline so this was no surprise to anyone other than the stewards who collared this guy and instead of putting him back in the crowd they took him away. Real shame that, not needed and not helpful. As I said before real jobsworth stuff and no empathy shown at all.

Perhaps KJ can appeal to the FAW about his sending off? Hope so.

Three days in Swansea for me next week when my daughter swims at the Welsh Nationals at the uni.

So a much shorter journey than usual to the Vetch. Bring on Cambridge.



Cheltenham 1 Swansea City 2 - Clive Gareth & David



After the great result against Macclesfield on Friday, it was the second half of the Easter weekend football at Cheltenham. A crowd of 4,669 was boosted by an official following of 1,550 but others were let in after 20mins adding to the rumoured extra in the home stands.

The Swans lined up

The second half saw us play a longer ball to the front three instead of playing through midfield. It was time for a change as we were struggling in midfield and Connor was replaced by McLeod as we reverted to 4-4-2. As we reorganised Cheltenham nearly took the lead as Guinan lobbed the ball over Gueret only to see Austin clear off the line. A real shock which woke the Swans up as we upped the tempo of the game. Just as we were getting the upper hand Martinez again made a mistake on the half way line and this time a carbon copy of their first goal saw Wilson break from the half way line.

With all Swans fans expecting the second goal Kris O'Leary who had given chase, pulled off a last second tackle. (Brilliant timing). Immediately Martinez was replaced by Bean. Again the play became more 50/50 but with Robinson being replaced by Britton the Swans started to get more possession and as the game moved into the last quarter the Swans came stronger. A Swans attack seemed to have come to nothing when Trundle turned on a loose ball and set in a shot that was only partly saved by Higgs to find Britton on hand to HEAD in from 2 yards out.

1550+ fans exploded as the three points looked to have been won. A few minor scares but we saw out the last minutes comfortably with both Trundle and McLeod taking the ball into the corners on many occasions. This was too much for McCann who lashed out at Trundle and received a straight red.

Player Comments
Gueret - Good overall game and had no chance with the goal.
Gurney - Solid game but struggled a couple of times against pace.
Iriekpen - Battled well, a couple of sliced clearances
Monk - Solid, hardly a foot or head wrong all game.
Austin - Again solid, but as with Gurney caught a couple of times against pace.
O'Leary - The pick of the midfield who struggled against 5 in the first half. How he got back to make a match winning tackle in the second half, who knows but a massive thanks
Martinez - Both sides of Martinez today. Prompting the team but two major mistakes.
Robinson - Much quieter than against Macclesfield and didn't really get going.
Trundle - Better than some of his away games, but not up to his Vetch performances. Always a potential danger.
Thorpe - Hardly missed a header all day. Lucky to still be on after 10mins.
Connor - Plenty of running but the ball didn't run kindly today.
McLeod - Gave us options when he came on. His pace seemed to worry them
Bean - Got involved without dominating.
Britton - 15mins of true commitment and took his goal well.

Three precious points, which keeps our hopes alive. The first half saw an inept referee giving us very little. The second half saw him just as inept but at least we got a few decisions coming our way. A dream start which saw us comfortable until we gave a goal away. Cheltenham weren't a bad team but were knocked out of their stride so early on.

Let's hope we can build on this. On paper only Lincoln away should cause us any major problems as long as we do what we are capable of.
A team performance, but MoM must go to Kris O'Leary for that tackle
And not least apart from the early worrying stages of the second half great support from the fans

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