Nigel Gigg
Swansea 2 - 1 Scunthorpe
After an awful run our biggest game of the season today with the visit of second place Scunthorpe.
The last few weeks have been nothing short of dreadful, with a string of poor results and the humiliation caused to himself and the club by Andy Robinson, just adding to the woes.
Still, today offered the chance to put our troubles behind us against Scunthorpe. Scunthorpe themselves have had problems of late, and their form has been patchy since beating us 1-0 back in December.
Unsurprisingly, Kenny Jackett sidelined Andy Robinson, but the decision to drop Andy Gurney and Roberto Martinez was more unforeseen with Gurney on the bench and Martinez watching from the stand. Leon Britton was also dropped from the side that started at Darlington to make way for Lee Thorpe in his first start. Kris O’Leary made a welcome return from injury and Garry Monk returned from suspension.
Swans lined up as follows:
Gueret
Ricketts - Iriekpen - Monk - Austin
Forbes - Bean - O’Leary - McLeod
Thorpe - Trundle
Subs: Murphy, Tate, Britton, Gurney, Connor.
Swansea started nervously but had the first shot on goal with a weak Lee Trundle effort that crawled into the arms of Paul Musselwhite in the Scunthorpe goal. Swansea soon settled down and began to peg Scunthorpe back in their own half as Kris O’Leary and Marcus Bean seemed to be getting the better in the midfield battle. It was thirteen minutes before a shot in anger with a Lee Trundle effort from a narrow angle flashed past the post but ended up going for a throw-in.
Scunthorpe’s first chance came on twenty minutes from a Lee Ridley free kick after Izzy was harshly adjudged to have fouled Steve Torpey, but the shot was well saved by Gueret.
Swans almost took the lead three minutes later, when an excellent move involving McLeod, Bean and Forbes ended with a turn and shot by Lee Thorpe from just eight yards that was pushed over by Musselwhite. The keeper could consider himself lucky, as had the shot been a foot or so either side of him, he would not have seen it.
McLeod took the resultant corner that was poor, but it was sliced over by a defender who was under no pressure. McLeod’s second effort perfectly found the head of Iriekpen at the near post, his flicked header found the head of Lee Trundle, just three yards out, and he made no mistake.
A goal from a corner is as rare, a Lee Trundle headed goal is rarer and to combine the two – well!
The goal was no more than Swansea deserved and they almost doubled the lead two minutes later when Lee Trundle almost caught Musselwhite out with a volley from forty yards that the back pedalling keeper managed to hold onto.
On thirty two minutes, Scunthorpe undeservedly grabbed an equaliser after a mix up in defence resulted in Andy Butler hammering the ball in from six yards.
Swansea continued to have the better of things until half time without creating any clear opportunities.
Andy Gurney replaced Kevin Austin at half time, presumably Austin was injured as he had a very solid first half. Andy Gurney went to right back and Sam Ricketts moved across to left back.
Three minutes into the second half, a Lee Thorpe flick found Lee Trundle and his delicate chip put Kevin McLeod through on goal. He just beat the keeper to the ball, and tried to lift it over the onrushing Musselwhite who managed to claw the ball away.
A minute later, Lee Trundle had an opportunity with a turn and shot, but his effort was well saved.
Again Swansea were getting on top and a second goal seemed only a matter of time. On sixty-two minutes Trundle put Thorpe through on goal. Again Musselwhite raced out of his area, Thorpe just got to the ball before Musselwhite and flicked the ball over the keeper’s head and seemed to have a clear run on an empty. Defender Stevland Angus made up yards to put pressure on Thorpe but with Thorpe looking certain to score, Angus pulled him back giving the referee little option but to give Swansea the penalty and Angus the red card.
Lee Trundle sent the keeper the wrong way with a well-struck penalty.
The second goal gave Swansea more confidence and Scunthorpe’s reaction was to use strong-arm tactics to try and get back into the game. Scunthorpe kept four at the back that meant they were short of numbers going forward. Despite dominating possession, Swansea were unable to provide the killer punch and Scunthorpe were always a danger at set pieces with Steve Torpey’s flick ons providing plenty of headaches.
With two minutes remaining, Sam Ricketts had a great run and cross, which had goal written all over it, but Lee Thorpe was stretching the reach the ball and fired over from ten yards. Alan Tate replaced Lee Trundle in injury time as Swansea looked to play out the last couple of minutes.
Swansea held out despite a couple of scares to record a fantastic hard won victory and reclaim their top three spot, if only temporarily.
Gueret – 7 – Quiet game but steady and distributed the ball well.
Ricketts – 7 – Poor first half but very good in the second with some great runs down the left.
Monk – 8 – Totally assured on his return and probably just about shaded man of the match.
Iriekpen – 7 – Looks all the happier to have Garry Monk back.
Austin – 7 – Good first half before his substitution.
Forbes – 7 – Quiet early on, but more and more involved as the game progressed.
Bean – 8 – Very comfortable on the ball and showed strength in the tackle.
O’Leary – 8 – Made a huge contribution in helping Swansea dominate the midfield.
McLeod – 7 – Some lovely touches and already developing good rapport with Trundle.
Thorpe – 7 – Did really well to earn Swansea the penalty and worked tirelessly all afternoon.
Trundle – 8 – Despite his two goals and causing Scunthorpe all sorts of problems, perhaps should sometimes look up and pass to others in better positions.
Subs
Gurney – 7 – Decent game but one or two scary moments.
Stats: Soccernet.com
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