Match report

Match Report by Jim White, Pictures from Paul Smith

Have just got back from northampton.

Firstly, it was nice to meet some new people who read this website daily. Also nice to meet Aberdare Chris.

This was a good result based on the fact that Northampton are a decent side and that we had lost the last 4 away games. However, hearing the other results then its tough as we really need wins and not draws.

I was surprised (and i have to say disappointed) that Jackett did not play Gurney today. I guess he wanted to go for Izzy's pace alongside Gary Monk but i don't think that Gurney deserved to be dropped after last week's good performance.

We started quite nervily in my view and as Northampton looked dangerous in the final 3rd of the pitch, we gave them a few chances which they should have done better with.

We seemed to lack any real pattern but hustled and bustled to stay in the game. Forbesy had a good chance to open the scoring before a cracking move down the right hand side with Sammy Rickets saw a Trundle (i think) pass into Paul Connor who finished it well.

We then gave away 2 silly goals. Bad marking (by Mcleod) on the far post from a corner and Smith beat Gueret at his near post and then Andy Kirk lost his marker and managed to get his header past Willy for 2-1.

In the 2nd half we battled much harder and also looked more dangerous on the break. We defended well (with some very scary moments) and deserved the 2nd goal. A great run by Paul connor saw him beat about 3 men and pass the ball to Trundle who somehow bundled it into the net.

We then had a few other good chances as well as having to defend stoutly the other end and it was a relief when the ref blew the final whistle.

I felt happy that we got a point but with the results going against us, it showed how vital that last minute Rochdale goal was.

If I could describe the performance i would call it 'workmanlike'. Nothing great, nothing bad, but a point against a very good attacking side.

Gueret - 7 - Very sound on crosses again but was at fault for first goal (in my view)
Rickets - 7.5 - Solid game from Sam again. Worked hard defensively and gave us a number of attacking options
Monk - 7 - I keep raving about Gary Monk because I think he is so important to us. Very solid and committed and gets Izzy organised. I think Monk might have lost Kirk for the 2nd goal but that was his only blip on an otherwise good performance
Izzy - 6 - Had a better game than last week and his pace does get him out of situations. Had a great header saved by Harper. Still has 'mental moments' where i and others cringe and think IZZY!!!!!!
Austin - 7 - I thought he played ok today. He had a tricky customer in Josh Low but he battled hard against him and had one nasty challenge on him which nearly broke Low in 2!
Forbes - 5- Did not really get into the game that much today and was no surprised when he was taken off.
KOL - 6 - Not his best game. Worked hard and made the odd tackle, but there were many times today when he just lumped the ball forward, when it was crying out to be held, controlled and passed to another player. I think he and Bean are too similar and KOL needs a ball player alongside him
Bean - 6 - Not bad from him today. Worked hard and ran all over the picth. Had a good one on one with the keeper in the first half.
Mcleod - 6.5 - Has some great touches and looks class on the times when he is involved. His ball delivery is excellent. However, he lost his man for the first goal and I do worry about him defensively. Why he is now taking free kicks that Trundle used to, i don't know
Connor - 8 - MOM - I thought that Paul connor had a great game today. He finished his chance well, worked very hard and his run set up Trundle's goal.
Trundle - 7 - Worked hard and his close control was again exceptional. Was there when he needed to be for the goal and you could tell that Northampton were worried about him
Subs

Thorpe - 6 - Thought he won good ball in the air when he came on, but i would liked to have seen him link up better with Connor and Trunds
Robinson - 7 - We looked brighter going forward when he came on.
Martinez - 4 - I don't want to target one player but he is simply not sharp enough for this league anymore. He nearly cost us with a bad pack pass to Willy's right foot and he is just too slow for me amongst other younger, fitter and more physical players.
Jacket - 6 - I was disappointed that Kenny dropped Gurney and i thought his substituations were strange today. however, they worked (and so what do i know!!) and we got the point.

He must know, like us all, HOW IMPORTANT next week's game is for us. We must win it, end of story!

I can still see us winning 5 out of the last 8 games and so i do think we will def get the playoffs. Whether we will get Automatic's now remains to be seen!!

Northampton 2 Swansea City 2

Match Report by Peter Charles, Pictures from Paul Smith

There was plenty of character to applaud in the late rally which saw the Swans pinch a point from a difficult match at Sixfields today. And against a team which includes several talented players, and which itself is rather under-achieving at this level, this has to be viewed as a point gained. But we shouldn't let this result paper over any of the cracks which have been showing in our team and management over the last few weeks (months?). For much of this game we looked clueless and disorganised, and only in patches did we threaten to play any worthwhile football. Perhaps a microcosm of our season, then, here in Northamptonshire, on an otherwise glorious day for Welsh sport.

Our troubles were perhaps best represented by the list of players who were sitting on the bench. Martinez, Robinson and Britton were all warming the dug-out furniture, undoubtedly three of our most talented players in terms of pure ability. OK, no-one can dispute that this trio has not been performing to its potential this season, but what is the reason for that? Have they all suddenly become bad players, or are they frustrated with a system where hoofing the ball 40 yards to Trundle and hoping he can work wonders has become the main tactic? Alongside them on the bench was Gurney - who spent the warm up conspicuously apart from his team mates. Now I'm no great Gurney fan, but I did see footage of him scoring a cracking goal last week. Why was he dropped to the bench this week? What master-stroke of tinkering brought that one about?

As for the players which took to the field, the main question posed was "where will the passes come from?" The line-up suggested we would be looking to the occasional deft ball out of defence from Iriekpen, and possibly the odd good cross from McLeod and Ricketts, as being our only creative outlet. As it turned out, for the most part our main weapon was the hoof upfield from Gueret - so we needn't have worried too much about the lack of finesse elsewhere. Certainly, the central midfield pairing of the game (if limited) O'Leary alongside the lamentable Bean was never going to trouble the opposition defence greatly, and so it proved. Similarly, the "wide boys" of McLeod and Forbes, spent most of the first half sucked inside into central roles, searching out some sniff of possession. When they got it, they did little with it. At the back we looked solid but cumbersome. Ricketts held the right back position perfectly well, as he always does, whilst Austin on the left looked constantly terrified by the bewildering raids of Josh Low down the Northampton right. Up front, Connor and Trundle battled hard for the scraps prodded forward to them, and to their immense credit, it was largely their work that brought us the point on the day.

The first half was a generally scrappy affair and what little football there was in the opening exchanges came from the home team. On three minutes the nippy Scott MGleish was put through on goal by a deft flick from big bucks signing Andy Kirk, only for him to drag his low shot wide. On 11 minutes Lee Williamson was allowed far too much space on the edge of our box, with no intervention from our "holding" midfield, but fortunately his low strike also flew well wide. And on 16 minutes, with the Swans allowing their hosts far too much space in which to play in the middle of the park, Pedj Bojic had a long range pot shot which was easily stopped by Willy. Our first sniff arrived on 17 minutes, when a defensive error almost allowed Connor in on goal. but the defender recovered smartly to clear for a corner. This led to a brief flurry of Swans possession, leading to a neat through ball from O'Leary which found Trundle in the area - he turned and crossed for Forbes, who missed a sitter, only to find he had been flagged off side.

On 23 minutes the home side produced the most telling effort on goal up to that point, a fierce drive from Luke Graham, which Willy was only able to parry. Fortunately Williamson made a hash of the rebound, which nearly cleared the stand. Up to this point, the Swans had offered no real threat in front of goal, so it was a pleasant surprise when we took the lead with a fine effort on the half hour. Ricketts surged forward before cutting inside the full back and feeding a deft pass to the feet of Trundle. Lee turned his man and crossed for Connor who found himself completely unmarked; Connor controlled the ball, and tucked it neatly away....great joy amongst the visiting contingent. A minute or so later, an excited O'Leary was booked for the worst in a series of late challenges. Of course, this spurred on the home team (if not their crowd) into a smart response, and we came under a fair bit of pressure, mainly through some excellent wing play from the supremely effective Josh Low (wouldn't mind that Cardiff reject in our team!). On 34 minutes our defence failed to clear a series of crosses, the last of which fell to Martin Smith on the right side of the penalty area. Smith punished us with an excellent low drive that skimmed under Gueret and into the net. Finally, the home voices were stirred - but they were matched by a vocal visiting army of 400 or so, who gave pretty good support throughout.

The force was with the home side now, and two minutes later the lively Williamson almost wriggled through the heart of our defence, only for Austin to intervene at the last moment and whisk the ball away. Then, against the run, we suddenly found ourselves presented with an excellent chance to regain the lead when a neat through pass from Trundle set Bean in on goal. Unfortunately the ungainly loanee succeeded only in dragging his shot wide of Harper's right hand post. A couple of minutes later and our profligacy was punished again. Low surged across our midfield unchallenged, carrying the ball from left to right before laying it back to a colleague. A low skimming cross was met by the head of Andy Kirk who looped it into the goal from close range. Once again, a lack of bite in midfield, allied to a lack of commitment in defence, had allowed us to concede a relatively straightforward goal. When half time arrived, it was noticeable that there was little interest among the Swans fans in the scores from elsewhere, as though our performance was suggesting that those results didn't actually matter any more.

With the game screaming out for a change (from the Swans perspective) it was the same Swans side that trudged out for the second half. And in the early stages, there was little sign of the rally to come. We did get a free kick early on in the half, which saw McLeod whack a tame effort straight into the wall. Why was he taking it, with Trundle on the park? Trying to justify the signing perhaps? The home side had a couple of good chances to kill the game in the period that followed. A low drive across our goal on 48 minutes was met by Kirk, whose effort was deflected over. And on 58 minutes another neat Northampton move led to Smith meeting another low cross, only to clip he effort over the bar. On 59 minutes there was a surreal moment. Connor was caught offside (for the umpteenth time) and kicked the ball away - incredibly he was booked for time-wasting whilst we were losing! Where's all this discipline that people keep talking about? Then on 62 minutes came our first real threat on goal since we scored. A decently floated free kick from McLeod (his only real contribution of the game) cleared the defence and found the head of Izzy at the far post. His firm header seemed bound for the far corner, but Harper in the home goal managed to produce a flying one-handed save of real quality.

The response was a double substitution and a change of formation which, to our credit, did force a change in the game. We abandoned all notions of width by removing both wide players (Forbes and McLeod). On came Thorpe and Robinson, and we immediately reverted to a 4-3-3. The consequence of this was that the 40 yard hoofs up into the channels were now being chased by an extra striker, and this immediately began to cause some panic in the home defence. Connor, Trundle and Thorpe began to chase everywhere, and Robinson and O'Leary worked hard to get forward in support of them. Bean ambled around, waiving his arms a bit.

The Swans began to gain much more territory and started to edge their way back into it, with a good strike just over the top from Robinson our best effort of the spell. But Cobblers still looked dangerous on the break, and another good run from Low saw Austin booked for a hugely clumsy tackle on the wide man. However, the Swans had seized the initiative, and on 70 minutes a fantastic run down the left from Connor saw him skin three defenders (yes, honestly!) before chipping across a low cross over the keeper which was bundled over the line by Trundle from close range. Several observers spotted Lee using a hand in the process, but fortunately, the officials were not among them. This was a great moment for Trunds, who had been getting the usual grief from the home contingent, and it was good to see him "stick it to them" and his goal was fair reward for his industrious performance. In the spell that followed, we looked the more likely winners, and on 75 minutes Trundle cut in from the right before releasing a vicious strike which was deflected over for a corner. Martinez replaced the tiring O'Leary for the final stages, and this brought a cool head to proceedings. Nonetheless, we had to withstand a fair bit of pressure late on, as the home side struggled to recapture the lead,. There were a few scary moments as the ball whizzed into our box, but we managed to clear everything away, and Willy earned his spurs with some decent catches. It was a little disappointing that we seemed to settle for the point in the last few minutes, as we looked capable of going forward and pinching the win. However, it was still a point well earned, in a match where a stirring late rally did a lot to mask the disappointment of the preceding hour.

Ratings
Gueret - 7 Pretty good, but perhaps disappointed by the goals?
Ricketts - 7 Tidy in defence, but added little to the attack (apart from the first goal)
Austin - 6 Did well considering he was up against Low
Monk - 7 Pretty commanding at the back
Iriekpen - 6 As above, but a shaky moment or two
Forbes - 6 Terrific work rate, but did almost all of it in defence
McLeod - 5 Very anonymous and lacking in confidence
O'Leary - 6 As ever, he worked hard, but offers no creativity. Caught in possession a few times today.
Bean - 3 Definitely a "Has" not a "Runner". Marcus, High St Station is easy to find...
Connor - 7 A good goal and an excellent assist is a sound contribution!
Trundle - 7 Worked like a Trojan and caused plenty of problems.

Robinson - 6 Put some drive into the midfield even if fleeting.
Thorpe - 6 His presence helped out with the 4-3-3 even if his individual contributions did not
Martinez - 6 Wasn't on for very long, but we do have a better shape when he is there.

Pretty good support from the travelling Jacks, even though one or two idiots spent more time shouting at players than encouraging them. Not called for during the course of the game. As for the team, well they seemed delighted with a point - and came over to milk the applause at the end. Anyone would think they had won! Well, maybe it has stopped the rot. We'll see. Even KJ decided to come over to the away fans today to lap up some of the applause at the end...unlike at Notts County where he was off down the tunnel like a whippet. And maybe he deserved it - the tactical move to 4-3-3 did make a difference, although I have a feeling that Nuge had something to do with that! Perhaps next week we can consider starting the game with our better players on the park rather than warming the bench. And perhaps we need to rise to the challenge of bringing the best out of the talented players we have at the club, rather than trying to drag scraps out of the mediocre ones. It will be an interesting finale to the season.

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