Match report

Peter and Bethan Charles

Make no mistake, and do not be deceived by the narrow margin, this was as comprehensive and unequivocal a 1 - 0 hammering as you could possibly get. Frankly, we were outplayed, out-thought and slightly outclassed by a very strong and well-organised Scunthorpe side, who look by far and away the best team in the division. The game certainly betrayed our weaknesses, which many people had thought it would, but at the same time it taught us nothing that we did not already know. Let's hope that Mr Jackett has also cottoned-on fully and completely to what needs to be done. More of that later.

The game could not have started worse for us. We knew they would be strong - Scunny always play with excellent wide players, who get the ball quickly to feet and play the ball in with pace from the flanks. Within 30 seconds they achieved exactly that - with the excellent Matt Sparrow racing clear of Ricketts and one or two other retreating Swans players, to deliver a low skimming ball across the six yard box, which evaded everyone but Torpey at the far post - who tapped in with ease.

The Swans regained their composure fairly well after that, and to their credit held their shape against a home side eager to kill the game of. Forbes responded with a good strike just over the bar after a lay off by Trundle, and a few minutes later a weak O'Leary header was easily gathered by the home keeper - possibly our only effort on target in the entire match. Scunny though continued to pour forward, playing some neat and incisive passing football, but always looking to get it forward early. Both our flanks looked exposed: Gurney on the right side was struggling to cope with Beagrie, which forced Forbes into his usual amount of defensive work; and on the left side the usually very composed Ricketts was having real trouble with Matt Sparrow, with little intervention from Goodfellow to help him.

Twice Scunthorpe could have doubled their lead - a low drive from Sparrow was deflected wide, and a raking shot from Beagrie came back off the post. In response, KJ made a remarkable substitution, replacing a fit Goodfellow on the left of midfield, with the returning Andy Raobinson. KJ presumably reasoned that Robinson would be more effective in his defensive duties, as Goodfellow was looking lightweight. Fair enough - but why did he not make that decision 20 minutes earlier and play Robinson from the start, as it was obvious to everyone who was at Oxford on Wednesday that Goodfellow could struggle against a really physical opposition. Instead, a humiliated Goodfellow disappeared straight down the tunnel, possibly for the last time in a Swans shirt (a pity as he shows real promise), a substitution was wasted, and the home side received clear signals of panic from the opposition.

The rest of the half continued in similar vein. Kris O';Leary prevented a home goal with a good defensive header; Beagrie skinned Gurney only for Monk to head away his excellent cross under pressure; a Baraclough free kick was brilliantly tipped wide by Gueret, and a Kell volley was parried away by Willy. In between, Trundle had a shot blocked after some good work by Forbes, and Gurney had set about the process of getting himself sent off by committing various late and/or clumsy challenges. That we were only a goal down at half time was little short of miraculous!

The early stages of the second half gave us some hope. The game lost its shape and AScunny struggled to get their game going. There were some useful midfield promptings from Martinez at this stage, and we began to see some of the ball. Unfortunately, we did very little with it - every time we had the ball our player seemed to be faced by 2 or 3 opponents, so quick were Scunthorpe to get men behind the ball and close us down. And on 58 minutes they began to exert their pressure again. KOL conceded a free kick just outside our area, which Ian Baraclough struck viciously against angle of post and bar. A minute later a raking shot from Torpey was well saved by Geuret, and moment later a superb cross by Sparrow was headed over by Torpey. On 70 minutes, with Swans struggling to get out of their own half, the game seemed all up for us when Geuret felled Barclough in the box, only for Willy to brilliantly save the ensuing penalty (you will have guessed by this stage who our man of the match was!). We thought this might be a turning point, but it was not to be. On 80 Minutes Gueret was forced into another low save, which he could not hold, and from the rebound Torpey smashed the ball against the post. The ball then rebounded to another Scunthorpe player, whose shot was cleared off the line. Several other chances came and went, and as the final minutes approached we began to think that the script might be written for an unlikely point. With 2 minutes to go the Swans burst into life - an excellent run by Trundle fed Connor (who had replaced the ineffective Nugent) who then hit a low cross which evaded everyone, including a lunging Forbes at the far post. And on 90 minuets an excellent twisting run by Robinson put him into a good crossing position on the left side of the area, only for him to attempt and ambitious shot which went over the bar. In injury time Gurney committed a thuggish and unnecessary foul to earn a booking - probably his third bookable offence, but remarkably he stayed on the pitch!

The travelling Jacks (2 - 300 or so) responded pretty well to the players at final whistle, applauding their efforts if not their football (with the exception of the people behind us who had spent most of the game singing about "the scum" losing, and then refused to clap the Swans at the end).

Player ratings:
Gueret - 9 One flapped cross but otherwise brilliant
Ricketts - 6 - Settled down after a poor start
Gurney - 4 Poor distribution and struggled to cope with his defensive duties; some poor tackles
Austin and Monk - 7 Their combined efforts prevented the score from being higher, but their poor distribution put too much pressure on Martinez to be the only play-maker
Forbes - 6 Tried hard
Goodfellow - Struggled but can't give him a rating on 20 minutes!
O'Leary - 6 Some decent challenges as the game wore on, but exerted no real influence
Martinez - 6 Our only passer of the ball, but limited in effect today
Trundle - 6 a few moments and plenty of effort, but marked out of it
Nugent - 5 Didn't even get too many flicks-on; far more effective as a late substitute (KJ chose not to play him at all last weekend, then to start him twice since then...what?!)
Robinson - 7 Our best attacker
Connor - 6 Slightly more effective than Nugent but not a lot in it.

Oh well - roll on Notts County!!!

Would you like your match report printed here? Email it to the site straight after the match.
Click here to return to the main page.