Match report

Match Report by Gareth AJ Williams, Pictures from Gary Martin

Swansea City continued their recent good run of form with an easy, yet at the same time tense, 1-0 victory over Oxford United to move back into an automatic promotion place – albeit for less than 24 hours.

The Swans still need to hope for slip-ups from the other teams around them but, because many of those sides face difficult encounters with fellow promotion-chasers, if Swansea can close out their final season at the Vetch Field with four consecutive wins for the first time since they went up from the bottom division in 1999/2001, then it is more than likely that they will be starting life at Morfa in League One.

There was more cause for celebration in Swansea on Friday night because Southend United’s club record-breaking sequence of 17 league games undefeated finally came to end, about fifteen minutes after the conclusion of proceedings at the Vetch of what should be the last ever floodlit game down by the sea.

Despite this landmark occasion, one got the feeling that even a resounding triumph - which could have been achieved as Oxford were reduced to ten men for the last twenty minutes, and would consequently have lifted Swansea City ahead of the Shrimpers on goal difference - would not have given rise to excessive rejoicing, so palpable was the tension in and around the ground.

That written, the majority in the crowd of the 10,602 still managed to provide enough support for the team, as publicly requested by Lee Trundle, to offset the air of nervousness that permeated the old stadium.

To that end it helped that the home side practically set up camp in Oxford’s half throughout the first period, forcing a succession of set-pieces near the visitors’ goal in the opening stages.
These, though, came to naught as the takers were unable to locate their target – whether shooting or crossing – and when an Andy Robinson corner found the head of Garry Monk, his glancing effort sailed over the bar.
The Swans had come closer not long before that, on 17 minutes, with a speculative yet spectacular long-range volley from Kristian O’Leary which was parried away for a corner by Chris Tardif.
In spite of City’s territorial advantage, Oxford’s keeper was rarely called into action; it was not until a further 17minutes had elapsed that he was required to save again – tipping over Sam Ricketts 25-yarder following a short free-kick.
The award of that free-kick was due to a cynical trip by Dave Mackay on Trundle as he surged at the centre of the defence. Since thirty yards was deemed out of his range, it was no surprise to see Robinson step up to take responsibility. However, his initial attempt was drilled low and wayward so after the referee, Trevor Friend, ordered a re-take, the midfielder squared to Ricketts, apparently on the counsel of Trundle.

In fact, even at this relatively early stage, it was beginning to seem as if the main role for Swansea’s top scorer would be merely to rouse team-mates and crowd alike, because almost every time he advanced into a dangerous position he was stopped illegally by various yellow-shirted players. This illicit ‘tactical’ approach was reminiscent of Don Revie’s Leeds sides at their worst.

But, then again, perhaps the Oxford miscreants were not acting under instructions as their manager and his right-hand man were not present to guide them; Ramon Diaz is currently back in Argentina due to work permit problems while Jean Marc Gorain was attending the funeral of Prince Rainier of Monaco. Have there ever been any more bizarre excuses for the non-appearance of a British club’s management team?!

Anyway, such rugged methods, ultimately, were not to prove successful, in particular for the U’s Uruguayan centre-back, Mateo Corbo. (More on him later…)

Further forward, however, his fellow South Americans displayed some of the more skilful aspects that are more readily associated with players from that continent to create the only semblance of a chance United had in the first half. Emiliano Diaz and Lucas Cominelli cut through Swansea’s rearguard before working the ball to Chris Hackett but his final pass was slightly over hit, allowing Willy Gueret to smother at the feet of Diaz.

For Swansea meanwhile, whereas attacks at Lincoln last Saturday had foundered due to the unwillingness of O’Leary and Roberto Martinez to support their front and wide men, against Oxford the problem, arguably, was that they were too far forward, encamped as they were in enemy territory. This narrowing of the field of play meant that more intricate, measured build-ups were required but – for all the efforts of the two Scousers – such forays were regularly stalled by dint of United’s obstinate defending.

So, three minutes before the interval, it was something of a surprise to see O’Leary charge through the middle to latch onto Robinson’s through-ball to emphatically plant a volley into the far corner of Tardif’s net giving Swansea the lead.

As the cliché has it, scoring just before half-time is supposed to be especially beneficial (or, alternatively perhaps, deleterious to the side who have conceded) and in this case, that certainly appeared to be the case.

Two minutes into the second period, Robinson went for the heart of the Oxford defence again and was brought down inside the ‘D’. Trundle was not going to pass up this opportunity but his low free-kick was gathered by Tardif.

Next, the irrepressible winger (not that he would like to be seen as such, ideally) was making inroads into the guests’ right flank from where he cut the ball back for Kevin Austin, of all people, but as he stretched out his right boot, he could no do more than slice his effort towards the far post whereupon Adrian Forbes appeared to slide the ball home from a tight angle, only to be ruled, debatably, offside.

By now, United were becoming increasingly ragged, none more so than Corbo who practically assaulted Trundle on the right touch-line after 53 minutes. Unfortunately for Swansea, the officials must not have had an optimum view of the clash as the hatchet man was only warned as to his future conduct.

He took no heed whatever though as he had now lost control completely and he received an overdue caution a minute later for yet another transgression against Trundle. Although the striker would have been entitled to feel aggrieved that he was still having to deal with the Uruguayan who looked to have modelled his game on his country’s notorious World Cup squad of 1986, he nonetheless kept on tormenting Corbo, rounding him in the penalty area before he recovered to bundle him over (which could have resulted in a penalty) but perhaps Friend deliberately played the advantage rule to allow Robinson to pick up possession before he, too, was stopped – or so it appeared – by foul means.

With little more than 20 minutes remaining Trundle finally saw the back of his nemesis (or should that be the other way round?) when the pair sprinted for a ball played over the top of the defence, for which Trundle was favourite until Corbo wilfully blocked him, thus earning a well-deserved second yellow card.

Poetic justice was almost served immediately as the Swans had the ball in the net from the resultant free-kick, taken by Trundle himself. However, it was adjudged that Tardif had been fouled as Swans players converged on him in an effort to force home the rebound.

My thought at the time was that the referee, as virtually all his colleagues are, had been overly protective of the goalkeeper who could not have laid both gloves on the ball for more than a split-second – if at all – before a combination of Izzy Iriekpen, Forbes and an Oxford leg put the ball in the net. Nevertheless, what cannot be disputed is that the custodian was caught in the scramble because play, while far from his goal, had to be halted eight minutes later when he was spotted sitting dazed on his penalty spot.

In between time, before his condition worsened, Tardif had actually managed to rush from his line to foil Trundle after an astute flick from Lee Thorpe released him into the area. And his replacement, Bradie Clarke, needed to be similarly alert in preventing Robinson from scoring at the near post after some Trundle trickery had carved out an opening for him.

Before that though, there had been a brief lull in Swansea’s dominance and, from a quickly taken free-kick, Hackett tested Gueret’s powers of concentration with a fierce angled drive which the big Frenchman did well to turn away.

The only other wobble from the hosts occurred when a shocking mis-kick from Iriekpen almost let in Oxford on the right wing but he was bailed out, firstly by Monk’s headed clearance and then O’Leary’s intervention.

These were isolated moments of panic, however. In reality, so comfortable were the Swans – despite what on the face of it appeared a precarious one-goal lead – that, within seconds, the marauding midfielder was joining in a counter-attack, and being urged to let fly from all of 25 yards; he duly did and missed the crowd in the East Terrace altogether, so wild was his shot!

I got the impression that Kenny Jackett, and the players, had learned from previous mistakes and made a conscious effort to, essentially, defend while in their opponents’ half towards the end, as opposed to sitting back and inviting pressure as has often been the case this season. Hence Swansea were able to see out the game with little trouble, although upon the final whistle the roar from the Vetch faithful was somewhat subdued, as all concerned were only too aware that a lot still needs to happen for the campaign’s goal of promotion to be accomplished

Nonetheless, looking forward, if the young manager and his (mostly) young charges continue to learn and improve, I believe that, with some more tweaking of the squad, a further ascension – to the Championship – should be the stated aim come May, provided of course, the Swans can maintain their present form to move up this season.

Swansea City 1 Oxford 0

Match Report by Nigel Gigg, Pictures from Gary Martin

The Vetch packed for a floodlit game is always special. For the last League floodlit match and the penultimate League game at the Vetch and with points vital, tonight was extra special.

The atmosphere prior to kick off was electric, for a game that meant so much to the Swans. Oxford on the other hand appeared to have little to play for other than pride. Their Manager, Ramon Diaz, was back in his Argentina home having been kicked out of the UK for problems with his work permit. Their Assistant Manager, Jean Marc Goiran, was also absent. He was away at the funeral of Prince Rainier of Monaco. Oxford were also without top scorer Tommy Mooney, who was inexplicably rested with just 4 games of the season to play.
Swans kept faith with the starting line up that so unluckily lost at Lincoln and the only change on the bench saw a fit again Leon Britton replace the inconsistant Marcus Bean.

The night’s comedy moment came prior to kick off with Oxford’s mascot, 13 year old, 6’ 4” Nathan Hudson from Carmarthen (shame on him) towering over the match officials and captains.

Side – Gueret, Ricketts, Monk, Iriekpen, Austin, Forbes, Martinez, O’Leary, Robinson, Thorpe, Trundle. Subs- Murphy, Gurney, Britton, McLeod, Connor.

The opening period was fast and furious with Swans playing 100 mph football, or rather trying to play 100 mph football. They all too often lost possesion and created problems for themselves.

Oxford, despite their off field problems had not come to lie down and looked lively on the break and were certainly up for the fight.
Swans failed to create anything in the first 10 minutes or so and the first half chance was as a direct result of a poor defensive header in the heart of the Oxford defence but goalkeeper Chris Tardif rescued the situation with an excellent punch whilst under pressure from Izzy Iriekpen and Garry Monk.
Oxford then had a great opportunity to snatch the lead but the lively Emiliano Diaz was denied by Willy Gueret who dived at his feet to dispossess him.
Swans nerves were there for all to see and were well illustrated with freekicks from 25 yards from both Trundle and Robinson that were each struck 10 feet over the bar.

The closest Swans came to breaking the deadlock was a Kris O’Leary shot that was not particularily well struck but bounced awkwardly in front of Tardif, who was forced to scramble the ball behind for a corner.

The only other shot of note was a Sam Ricketts piledriver from an Andy Robinson freekick that forced Tardif into a good save. That apart although controlling midfield through O’Leary and Martinez, Swans were poor and no-one seemed capable of putting their foot on the ball and slowing things down.

We were also unable to make any progress down the flanks and all too often hit long balls to the chest of Trundle or the head of Thorpe.
With just a minute to half-time and most contemplating what changes Kenny Jackett would need to make, Swans took the lead. After a decent move Kris O’Leary had a shot from 15 yards that was blocked by the centre half. The ball kindly sat up and O’Leary reacted quicker than his marker and lashed the ball into the corner of the net giving Tardif no chance.

Most now expected Swans to win comfortably in the second half as Oxford would be forced to come forward.
The second half started well for the Swans with Adrian Forbes and Lee Trundle immediately causing Oxford’s defensive line problems. Adrian Forbes looked to have doubled the lead on 47 minutes but the linesman’s flag spoilt the celebrations.

Swans were now finally looking like the promotion candidates and Oxford were coming under increasing pressure. The pressure got to centre-half Mateo Corbo who pulled down Lee Trundle to earn a booking and shortly after he got into an animated argument with Kevin Nugent, with niceties being exchanged from 20 yards.

On 70 minutes Lee Trundle was put through and with Corbo alongside battled for the ball. Corbo appeared to catch Trundle with his arm and thankfully the linesman spotted the incident meaning a second yellow card and the red card for Corbo.
From the resultant freekick Swans again seemed to have grabbed the second when Tardif failed to hold a well struck Trundle freekick. In the ensuing melee Forbes tapped the ball over the line but not before Tardif had taken a boot to the head for which the referee had already blown up.
A few minutes later and Tardif had to be replaced and he looked as if he didn’t know if he was on a football pitch or a dancefloor as the physio helped him off.

Down to 10 men you would have expected Oxford’s resistance to wain, but quite the opposite as they now looked more capable of scoring than at any time in the game. Swans had one or two scares but Izzy Iiriekpen and Garry Monk, in particular denied Oxford time and again.
Swans saw out the 3 minutes of injury time with little or no worries to record their third sucessive home victory. News of the result from Southend bought further celebrations.

Three points was all important tonight and it was mission accomplished. We lacked composure in the first half, but by the end were good value for the three points.

Ratings-
Gueret 8 – Not that much to do, but did everything that could have been asked of him.
Ricketts 6 – Still looks jaded.
Monk 8- Usual reliable performance.
Iriekpen 8- Looked superb at times but then blots his copybook by giving the ball away.
Austin 7 – No nonsense performane. Not the worlds greatest footballer but would run into walls for the cause.
Forbes 6 – Very little threat first half. Far more involved second half.
Martinez 9 – Excellent from start to finish.
O’Leary 8 – Another solid game capped by a rare goal.
Robinson 8 – Our most potent threat in midfield.
Thorpe 7 – Won more than his share of flick ons but lack of awareness from those around him meant those flick ons rarely found a Swans player.
Trundle 7 – Very quiet first half. Caused them all sorts of problems second half.
Connor – Only on for a minute or so.

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