Match report

Match Report Peter and Bethan Charles Pictures Dai Smith

“Gutted”, is the only word that can sum up how we felt at the end of this one. For most of the game we had more than matched the physical and industrious home side, played some good football, and defended stoutly. Only to be robbed of a point by a freak goal which could only be described as “fluky” at best. At times this afternoon we played football that was as good as I had seen from them all season. Fluent, inventive and determined. So the cruel climax was all the more disappointing. But in truth we also need to look hard at the way we faded in the last quarter of an hour, and failed to make any tactical adjustments to counter this. Sadly, these lessons are often learnt the hard way"

The Swans lined up at Sincil Bank with Jackett's favoured 4-4-2 formation, and with a team which looked to have some of its creativity and drive restored, with the appearance of both Robinson and Forbes on the two flanks, and Martinez in the centre to offer some guile to complement the more physical approach of O'Leary. The rest of the team was predictable but comfortingly solid, with Izzy partnering Monk at the heart of defence, and Ricketts and Austin in the right and left full back positions. Thorpe was chosen ahead of Connor to partner Trundle up front. The home side lined up with their usual array of honey-monsters.several six foot-five giants lurching onto the park. We prepared ourselves for the usual bombardment!

The first half was a thumpingly entertaining affair, with both team seemingly going hell for leather for the win. It was also a "half of two halves" with Lincoln edging the early stages, before the Swans took over proceedings from the 20 minute mark. Within the first three minutes Simon Yeo had fashioned two half chances for the home side, the first being blocked, and the second a ballooned shot over the bar following a far post knock-down (a Lincoln tactic which we were to see frequently in the match). The Swans responded with an excellent run from Thorpe down the Lincoln left, followed by a deft cross to Trundle, whose header from 14 yards went well wide. Lincoln exerted more pressure, mainly through their familiar aerial style, but also with a little more guile and control than they had exhibited in past seasons. A couple of corners were forced, and Willy was called upon to intervene by punching the second one away under extreme pressure. Indeed, the competence with which Willy and his centre halves handled the significant physical pressure throughout the game was a credit to them.

On 10 minutes the Swans produced a fine passing move - O'Leary slipped the ball through to Trundle, who carried the ball forward before feeding Thorpe, who sadly mis-controlled at the key moment. But it was the home side that had the edge at this stage, and Willy was forced into a fingertip save following a fine effort from Yeo. From the ensuing corner Lincoln had the ball in the net, but it was disallowed for a clear foul on Willy. Shortly after, the impressive but agitated Yeo was booked for a foul followed by dissent.

As the half wore on the Swans began to take the sting out of the home side and began to string some good play together, largely through the excellent forward running of our two wide men, Forbes and Robinson, both of whom seemed to be playing the first half like men possessed (or maybe men with points to prove). We began to fashion some half chances. First Ricketts fired in a decent long range effort, which went wide. The Robinson fired in a free kick from the left which forced the home keeper into a smart save. Robinson was showing some lovely footwork at this stage of the game, and began to be increasingly influential. On 28 minutes he dribbled past four opposition players, but was frustratingly unable to find trundle with his last touch. And on 30 minutes he delivered an excellent corner which was met by a bullet header from Thorpe, which cleared the bar by a foot.

But the home team was far from out of it at this stage, and Yeo had just struck a fine shot just over the bar. And on 34 minutes an excellently controlled volley from the impressive Richard Butcher extended Willy into a fine fingertip save. But the Swans responded by exerting more pressure and a flurry of corners followed, in which Robinson was again influential. On 40 minutes, some good battling from Thorpe won us a free kick in a wide left position - it was whipped in by Robinson, and the half clearance found O'Leary whose shot was blocked. A minute later, O'leary latched on to another half chance, but this time his effort was a tame one.

By the stage the Swans were well on top, and the home defence was looking edgy. Indeed the home side had resorted to some repeated fouling and the referee might have taken a firmer line, particularly with the dissent from the players and their manager. In particular, Forbes was terrorising them down their left side, and on 41 minutes he linked with trundle, who produced a scintillating run past several defender before cutting inside for a left footed shot, which unfortunately was a weak one. A couple of minutes later a run and neat through ball from Martinez released Trundle on the left side, but his cross was cleared. From the resulting corner, there was a pin-balling of headers, with the final effort being an instinctive point blank effort from Trundle which flew over. And on 44 minutes a swirling free kick from Robinson was saved. As the players left for half time the Swans were applauded off by a standing ovation from the 600 travelling Jacks, whilst the nervous home fans simply shuffled off towards the toilets.

The second half started as the first had ended - with the Swans on top. But it was also a turning point, as we missed two good chances in the opening minute. First, Thorpe slipped the ball to Trundle who appeared to have a clear shooting chance, but somehow he lost control. Then, the goalkeepers scuffed clearance bounced straight to Thorpe, who turned on the ball and found himself one on one with the keeper. Sadly, he lost his composure and fluffed the clearest chance of the game.

On 53 minutes we nearly forged an opening when another excellent free kick from Robinson resulted in a melee with the ball pinging around, before Iriekpen fired a good chance wide. And shortly afterwards, another good Swans move saw Robinson (again) feed the ball to Thorpe whose firm shot was deflected for a corner. From the resulting corner the ball was played again to Robinson, whose low cross was held by the keeper.
The home team responded by exerting their own spell of pressure, which included a series of corners. From one of these there was a penalty shout against Izzy for handball, but from our position it looked like an optimistic one.

Lincoln now seemed to have weathered our storm, and began to exert more control over the game. On 58 minutes Asamoah cut in brilliantly from the left and hit a low shot wide. Three minutes later, Yeo struck another excellent effort on goal, and forced Willy into his third flying save of the game. At this stage, the game began to stretch, and Trundle, who had worked hard all game, began to see some possession. He marked this with two excellent runs in two minutes, one from each side of the pitch, but neither resulted in a killer pass or strike. As we passed the 80 minutes, more Lincoln pressure followed and the Swans began to drop deeper, and were now looking visibly tired. Robinson and Forbes had run themselves into the ground, and both were now looking in need of replacement. But no substitution was forthcoming - until (inexplicably) Bean came on for Forbes with two minutes left.
Meanwhile, some good work from the home team from a corner, almost forced a chance for Yeo, but O'Leary intervened with an excellent block in the area. But it was all Lincoln in this late period, and we began to fear the worst.

On 88 minutes, we thought the worst had happened, when a long ball cleared both our centre halves and found its way to McCauley at the far post who burst through at point blank range, only to be coiled by a great block from Guest. Injury time arrived and we thought we might just have done enough to hold out. But then came disaster. In the 92nd minute, the ineffective Bean was booked for a needless scything challenge on a Lincoln player. The resulting free kick was pumped into our box and half cleared to Robinson. Sadly, Robbo (who had otherwise been excellent) dallied with his clearance and was robbed.

A Lincoln player struck a low shot which hit Monk, and caused a looping deflection over Guest and agonisingly into the back of the net. It was as though it had happened in slow motion, and 600 Jacks, who had given fantastic support throughout, were suddenly deflated. The home crowd of course, outsung for the home game, now decided to rub it in big time, and one or two minor scuffles with stewards followed, but nothing too serious.
At the final whistle the Swans players were visibly shattered in every sense, but were given a fine reception from the travelling support who recognised the efforts they had seen today - so far removed from some of the other matches we have seen since Christmas, and frankly, deserving of a better reward.

Player ratings -
Guest - 9 (MOM) helpless with the goal but made four fantastic saves and dominated his area well.
Ricketts - 7 Confident and assured
Austin - 7 Solid and reliable
Monk - 7 A pillar of the defence
Iriekpen - 8 As above, with some good distribution too
Forbes - 7 A great first half - worked really hard
Robinson - 8 Terrific for an hour, but faded in the later stages die to understandable tiredness. Showed real quality and determination.
Martinez - 7 Struggled at times, but always looked for the creative ball forward, and worked hard in defence too.
O'Leary - 6 A great block in the second half, and some good challenges won. Less effective with us in possession.
Trundle - 8 Got through a tremendous amount of work and was scintillating in flashes. Just didn't get the break in front of goal today.
Thorpe - 7 Worked hard but missed one good chance.
Bean (for Forbes) - When his colleagues had worked themselves to the bone, he came on and arsed about for 7 minutes. Swansea to Paddington 2 hours 45 minutes..
KJ - Tactically, Kenny will be pleased with the way the team performed generally. Slick, quick passing to feet and players who seemed confident and assured in their positions and roles..all a far cry from some of the debacles we have seen since Christmas (Mansfield, Notts Co). And he deserves credit for that. But he will have look hard at his decision not to put on fresh legs when Robbo and Forbes were out on their feet. Also, if we wanted to tie up the game for a point, why did he not withdraw Thorpe and put on an extra midfielder or defender? I don't think these points will have been lost on him. So it was a gutter and we didn't deserve to be feeling so deflated at the end. If we had taken our chances better we could probably have put them away, but at the same time Willy was called upon to make four fantastic saves to keep us in it. And credit is due to Lincoln who had the fitness and determination to keep going right to the death. We were beaten by a decent side in a fine game, so we shouldn't be too despondent. And if we meet them in the play-offs, I think we can handle them!

Match Report Clive Gareth & David Hughes, Pictures Dai Smith

You can use all the clichés you want. 'It only takes a second to score a goal', 'The game lasts 90mins' etc, but to lose the game like this has left us gutted as in the end it was self inflicted.

The Swans lined up 4-4-2

Lincoln did get the ball in the net but the whistle had already blown for a foul on Gueret. At around the half way stage, Yeo was booked for dissent after continuing to argue with the referee. Chances were coming at both ends with Lincoln, being the home team, getting the most. The Swans did come close when a powerful header from Thorpe just cleared the bar. Half time came with the scores level, Gueret had saved well on three occasions, and although a 0-0 did look fair, we couldn't complain if we had gone in a goal down, as Lincoln shaded the first half play.

The Swans came out and started the brighter and should have taken the lead inside the first 5mins. Trundle had a run across the edge of the area, shooting while off balance, with Marriott saving easily. Marriott threw the ball straight to Thorpe who had the goal at his mercy but decided to pass to Trundle but the chance was cleared by the defence. The Swans although not having their own way looked the stronger and more likely to break the deadlock. Lincoln were using their height advantage, but our defence worked very hard limiting their chances on goal.

Late on it looked odds on Lincoln scoring as a deep cross from the left by Taylor-Fletcher reached McAuley on the right free inside the area slightly to the right of goal. With us already seeing the ball in the back of the net Gueret spread his body, saving with his legs. It looked as if luck was with us, but as we went into added time, Bean conceded a needless free kick on the touchline just inside our half. We cleared the free kick only for the ball to fall to Robinson about 10 yards outside the box on our right. Row Z was needed but Robinson, flicked the ball up not once but twice as he attempted to put his foot through the ball was dispossessed. Gain sent in a shot which sliced off Monk looping over Gueret, hitting the underside of the bar and into the net. A very cruel blow. With only a minute left the game was gone.


No individual player comments as the team had worked extremely hard. Just a few in general.
It did seem an odd substitution to take Forbes off and replacing him with Bean. From about the 75min Robinsons legs had gone and although Forbes was tiring he would still have offered us more defending.

Also Forbes was booked for throwing the ball down. OK it could be taken as showing dissent, but Lincoln boss Alexander had done something very similar in the first half making sure we couldn't take a quick throw in but only received a talking too.

For those that weren't there PLEASE PLEASE don't think we blew it, it was just one of those things. Admittedly the goal was the result of a combination of mistakes but the team had played well and the form is still there. The reaction of the players showed how much it hurt, as many just stood and stared at the final whistle.

On paper that is our hardest match out of the way. This team is not the team that had the 10 game dip, and can bounce back. It could be a blessing as we now only have to go on a 4 game run.
A crowd of 5,200 included about 600 visiting Swans. We might not have been at our loudest but it was a very very nervous 90mins.

Match Report Julian and Alan Evans, Pictures Dai Smith

Having not seen the Swans since the Boston game, both my dad and I were looking forward to the trip to Lincoln. After all we were in some good form and on a 3 game win streak. Lincoln themselves have flirted with the playoff positions for most of this season, and in Yeo they had a striker in the \'Magic Daps\' mold. We felt both teams were equally matched for the combat ahead.

The Swans lined up (4-4-2):

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