Match report

Match Report - Nigel Gigg, Pictures Andrew Thomas

The Swans season reached a low point last week with a very poor display and defeat at Notts County and everyone has felt pressure building since. Today we welcome a resurgent Rochdale to the Vetch. Rochdale have lost just 2 of their last 15 and have climbed to the fringes of the play offs. Garry Monk was missing again through injury, but Kevin Austin returned from his hamstring problems after just 14 days.

Line up- Gueret, Gurney, Iriekpen, Austin, Ricketts, Forbes, Bean, O’Leary, McLeod, Connor, Trundle. Subs – Murphy, Martinez, Robinson, Maylett, Thorpe.

Swans attacked from the kick off and Paul Connor had a shot blocked after just 15 seconds as they looked to catch Rochdale cold. The game then went quiet as both teams looked for openings without committing many men forward. A strong wind was also making life difficult for both sides.

It took Swans 12 minutes to have their first decent move, which ended with Trundle bursting through and firing a shot, which Matthew Gilks in the Rochdale goal did well to save. The ball, however, rebounded off the keeper into the path of Marcus Bean who looked odds on to score but his effort was well blocked by a Rochdale defender. A minute later and Kristian O’Leary headed just over from a Kevin McLeod corner.

After years of the fans calling for two wide players, today we had them in Forbes and McLeod, but it seems now we have them we don’t know how the hell to use them. All too often we pumped high balls down the middle of the field to Paul Connor. Even when he did win the header, the flick on rarely found a white shirt. Swans should have taken the lead on 26 minutes when a mix up in the Rochdale defence left Kris O’Leary through on goal with just the keeper to beat. From just 8 yards he shot weakly straight at the keeper.

Typically Swans then fell behind to the sucker punch. A high ball found Paul Tait 30 yards out from goal. He headed the ball down for Grant Holt and both Izzy Iriekpen and Kevin Austin stood waiting for the offside flag as Holt controlled the ball with one touch before hammering a left foot shot past Willy Gueret. It was awful defending, Holt was well onside and there could be no excuse for either centre half.

The referee then became the focal point of the game with 2 sendings off in 2 minutes. Firstly Trundle needlessly dived into a challenge on the half way line. He had both feet off the ground with his studs showing and we immediately feared the worst. However, the challenge was not particularly fierce and it certainly wasn’t a leg breaker. Mr Parkes infuriated the crowd and put Swans automatic promotion aspirations in doubt by showing Trundle the red card.

If Trundle was unlucky, two minutes later Rochdale’s Paul Tait was desperately unlucky. He seemed to do little more than brush alongside Kris O’Leary, but also received a straight red. Either Mr Parkes was trying to even things out or perhaps he has a phobia about the number ten!

Tait’s dismissal had put Swans back into a game that seemed lost but without Trundle you question where goals could come from. With Trundles automatic three match suspension it’s something Kenny Jackett will need to resolve in the next week or so.

Just before half time Rochdale almost got their second from a corner with a header from Gareth Griffiths flashing past the post with Willy beaten. By half time the weather had improved with sun coming through and the wind having dropped. Whilst the weather was getting better as the half went by, the Swans had deteriorated from poor to awful. Kenny Jackett would have welcomed the half time whistle to give him the opportunity to put over just how important the next 45 minutes were to be.

Within a minute of the second half Kenny Jackett’s words and prayers were rewarded. Kris O’Leary hit a cross-field pass to Andy Gurney out wide right. Just as I was saying to my wife how a Captain’s performance from Gurney could yet win us the game, he picked the ball up, ran 10 or 15 yards and hit a bullet of a shot, which still seemed to be accelerating as it hit the net.

Swansea now finally began to look like a promotion chasing side and on 50 minutes we grabbed the lead. A well-flighted corner from Kevin McLeod was directed to the near post but with no Swans player within 10 yards, Grant Holt stretched to reach the header but only managed to deflect the ball straight into his own net.

Holt failed to repeat his first goal celebration of running across to the North Bank and pointing out his name and number to the North Bank faithful. A few minutes later and Paul Connor had a great chance to finish the game off. He was put through on goal but his first touch was dreadful and allowed the covering defender to get between him and the goal. His second and third touch saw Connor turn and fire a left foot shot 10 yards over the bar.

After non-stop attacking for 15 minutes we then started to sit deeper and deeper and were inviting trouble. Thankfully Rochdale still played with just Holt up front and despite Izzy and Kevin Austin looking shaky you couldn’t see them scoring without Holt having more support.

Swans made the first of their substitutions on 70 minutes with Roberto Martinez replacing Marcus Bean.

With Swans sitting so deep, we created little and only long-range shots from Sam Ricketts and Andy Gurney threatened the Rochdale goal. Rochdale for their part were now attacking in greater numbers and we sat back further and further.

With 10 minutes left Roberto gifted away possession to Rochdale substitute Ernie Cooksey who looked to have missed his opportunity by going too wide. However, his cross eluded Willy and came back off the far post before being scrambled away.

Kenny Jackett responded by replacing Adrian Forbes with Brad Maylett and Kevin McLeod with Andy Robinson. The substitutions saw no change as we still sat back asking for trouble. With the game going into injury time Rochdale got the equaliser. The centre of defence was once more opened up presenting Neil Brisco with an opportunity. He cleverly feigned to shoot before sliding the ball across the 6-yard line into the path of Ricky Lambert who tapped home. It felt like a dagger to our automatic promotion hopes, but obviously nothing is decided in March.

So another disappointing performance and yet another 2 home points lost. Add to that Trundles 3 match ban to come and it hasn’t been much of a weekend for Swans fans.

Gueret 6- Didn’t look too assured today. Not at fault for either goal.
Gurney 7 – Wonder goal and usual no nonsense performance.
Iriekpen 5- Looks to have lost confidence in recent weeks.
Austin 6- Never looks as comfortable without Monk alongside him.
Ricketts 7 – Good game both in defence and attack.
Forbes 6 – Plenty of good work. Probably shouldn’t have been substituted as he defends far better than Maylett.
Bean 6- Non existent first half. Much better second half.
O’Leary 7 – Excellent second half. Dreadful missed chance first half.
McLeod 6- Not involved enough first half.
Connor 5 – Tried hard, probably too hard.
Trundle 5- Harsh sending off, by why is he making two footed challenges on the half way line?
Martinez 5 – One dreadful loss of possession.
Robinson 7 – Looked lively for 10 minutes.
Maylett 6 – One or two nice touches.

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