Match report

Match report - Nigel Gigg

A cold night as Swansea welcomed Stockport to the Vetch for the 2nd Round FA Cup replay.

Neither side come into the game full of confidence with Swans having picked up an unconvincing win at Oxford and a defeat at Scunthorpe since the game at Stockport. Stockport, for their part, have lost both their games in Division One, leaving them adrift at the bottom of the Division by a massive 7 points.

Sam Ricketts passed his fitness test to keep his 100% record of starting every game and Andy Robinson started ahead of Marc Goodfellow.

Stockport keeper James Spencer failed his fitness test and this gave the opportunity for Neil Cutler to play at the club he helped keep in the Football League just 19 months ago.

Side- Gueret, Gurney, Monk, Austin, Rickets, Forbes, O'Leary, Martinez, Robinson, Connor, Trundle. Subs - Murphy, Iriekpen, Tate, Goodfellow, Nugent.

A modest crowd including around 70 hardy souls from Stockport greeted the teams.

Swans had the better of the opening minutes and the North Bank seemed in good voice with Neil Cutler rather unfairly being their target for abuse.

On 10 minutes Swans had the first serious shot on Goal. Lee Trundle turned his man some 30 yards out and was allowed to run unchallenged to the edge of the box from where he unleashed an excellent shot that Cutler did well to turn around for a corner.

At this stage Swansea were having much the better football. Connor, Trundle and Robinson were all causing the Stockport defence problems.

After creating chances for O'Leary and Martinez however, it wasn't long before Swansea began to lose their way. At the midway point of the half Garry Monk looked to have broken the deadlock when he perfectly met an Adrian Forbes corner and his bullet like header seemed goalbound only to be cleared off the line.

From their to halftime, other than a scuffed shot from Connor, Swansea created very little despite dominating possession.

The story of the first half was the same as many others this season. We had defend well and in numbers but in attack although Trundle and Connor had worked tirelessly, they were all too often surrounded by 4 or 5 defenders. Whilst Robinson and O'Leary do sterling work in front of the back four there contribution to attack is sorely lacking and none of the defenders with the possible exception of Ricketts get forward enough. We rely on Lee Trundle creating a piece of magic to create a chanc efor himself or others.

Whilst we seemed unable to create chances, within 3 minutes of the restart, Stockport created a chance for us. The left back and centre half contrived to leave the ball to one another allowing Paul Connor to burst through collect the ball and have a free run on goal from 40 yards. He looked far from confident and had a woeful first touch. However, he retained possession and eventually sidefooted the ball past the advancing Cutler.

The goal gave Swansea the confidence to play football and also gave the crowd a much needed lift. Andy Robinson almost doubled the lead on 50 minutes with a fiercly struck shot, which Cutler did well to keep out.

Going a goal down had prompted Stockport to go forward in numbers for the first time and this helped in creating gaps and open the game up.

Adrian Forbes and Andy Robinson were now having a significant impact on the game as swans continued to look for the second that would surely kill the game off. However, the opening failed to come and confidence again began to wane.

On 64 minutes Stockport made a double substitution which immediately seemed to give them the upper hand with substitutes Chris Williams and ex Everton Stuart Barlow both looking sharp.

Within 5 minutes of the substitutions Stockport were level. Swans cleared a corner but the ball was picked up fully 35 yards from goal by Stockport captain and centre half Danny Griffin. He hit an unstoppable shot which flew through a sea of players and beat a probably unsighted Willy Gueret.

Swans responded well, and a Lee Trundle shot was partially cleared and fired goalward by Garry Monk only once again to be cleared off the line.

With 14 minutes remaining Marc Goodfellow replaced Adrian Forbes.

It was now a very open game and either side looked capable of grabbing the winner. Swans should have scored with 10 minutes left when after good play by Connor and Goodfellow, gurney crossed to Connor. His perfectly cushioned header fell to Martinez just 10 yards out from goal but he inexplicably shot wide.

With just 2 minutes remaining and possibly Stockport looking the more likely winners they gifted the game to Swansea.

Neil Cutler cleared from hand. As he attempted to pump the ball upfield, he slipped and the ball fell to Marc Goodfellow, 30 yards out. He controlled the ball with one touch and hit a half volley straight into the middle of the goal with Cutler still getting back onto his feet.

Swans successfully saw out the final few minutes to earn a Third Round tie at Reading.

Once again it was not the most convincing of performances, but a win is a win and most would settle for that at the moment.

Gueret 7 - Little chance for goal.

Gurney 6 - Some way of his best.
Monk 8 - Another solid display.
Austin 8 - Hardly put a foot wrong.
Ricketts 9 - Super second half and possibly our most potent threat in attack.

Forbes 5 - Lacklustre first half, improved second half before his substitution.
O'Leary 6 - A few good tackles but not involved as much as he has been for much of this season.
Martinez 5 - Lost possession far too often and guilty of a dreadful miss from 10 yards.
Robinson 7 - Had an excellent spell for 15 minutes second half. Booked yet again.

Connor 6- Worked hard but control on the ground let him down once or twice.
Trundle 7 - Again provided most of the quality on view but for once not involved in either goal.

Subs
Goodfellow 8 - Took his goal superbly.
Tate


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.