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Match report |
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Swansea City 3 Barnsley 1 | |
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Swansea 3-1 Barnsley - Match Report - Paul Nicholas
 A lively opening spell with play moving swiftly from end to end was capped when on 14 minutes, Kevin McLeod hit a perfect right foot shot from all of 25 yards into the roof of the net with the Barnsley keeper helpless. Even before this there had been chances with the Swans playing some nice football on the ground, something that many fans have been crying out for all season. Throughout the first half hour the Swans kept good control of the game and despite Barnsley breaking quickly, they were causing no real problems to the Swans defence. McLeod could have made it 2-0 when he was unlucky to see an excellent shot go wide of the keeper's left hand post. McLeod was having an excellent game, not simply due to his goal scoring efforts and success but his vision, creativity, attacking flair and defensive work was outstanding, and he is clearly enjoying the game at the moment. For the last 15 of the half however, things started to fall apart. Whereas playing the ball on the ground had worked well earlier on, with Martinez, Britton, Tate and Ricketts regularly involved, suddenly they seemed to forget the 'get it away from here' approach which they generally adopt in tight situations. They started to put themselves under pressure, and with that, the composure of the likes of Tate and Martinez disappeared. Possession was given away at will, and inevitably the equaliser came on 38 minutes through what was a sloppy defensive goal. That didn't wake the Swans up (McLeod, however, seemed to let the general fall off in standards pass him by) and the half time whistle brought welcome relief to the team and the crowd where the frustration of the last 15 minutes had taken its toll. A couple of other mentions from the first half should include: Trundle's almost anonymity, and a marked reluctance to involve himself in physical challenges. Akinfenwa who was also very quiet, and Gueret who made a couple of good saves and had little chance with the goal given the gaps that opened up in front of him. Tudur-Jones played his part and battled well. The second half began exactly as the first had ended with Barnsley well on top and threatening each time they attacked. The Swans were getting tangled on occasions and a couple of times committed 3 men to the same ball leaving Barnsley with 2 free men but luckily, they failed to exploit this to better effect. Tate seemed to have settled a little in the opening period of the 2nd half having looked uncomfortable towards the end of the first. Trundle, whilst having a very quiet game, did what he often does and scored a superb goal from a free kick from 25 yards out, high into the top right hand corner on 58 minutes, and this together with Kenny Jackett making one if his more productive substitutions on 66 minutes, when he replaced Martinez and Britton with Robinson and O'Leary, really turned the game in our favour. The Swans had lost control of midfield, but the 2 replacements brought both composure and bite into the centre of the park. Robinson is all action and drive, and if only someone, anywhere, could control the negative side of his energy, he would be an absolute must in any team selected. The game was put out of reach of Barnsley (but after they had hit the post and had a goal disallowed for offside) when McLeod scored his second and the Swans' third on 90 minutes. Robinson to Akinfenwa from a free kick close to the corner flag, saw Bayo pass it back to McLeod who hit a left foot shot into the net. Barnsley were finished and the anger and frustration that had oozed from their dugout all game started to flow with greater force. Just prior to the goal, Trundle had been replaced by Paul Connor, and it was unusual to hear a louder roar from the crowd for Connor than Daps. Maybe this is a good sign, as we move away from the one man team tag that we carried for so long, and the supporters recognise excellent performances such as Connor's at Walsall.  No match report would be complete without a mention for the men in black, and today the man in the middle was up to the standard that I've come to expect. They have to control the game, but why do they do so in such a pedantic and inconsistent way. I won't go on, but the booking of Akinfenwa was nothing short of pathetic. So we have 6 points from the first Bank Holiday weekend of the season and 2nd place in the table with the most goals scored (13) will be a happy position for players, managers, directors and fans. Two of the three goals coming from midfield today, and three out of five last Saturday coming from the same source would suggest that we have sorted last year's problem when, if the strikers didn't score, no-one did. Rather surprisingly, the crowd proved to be the lowest of the three games played at the New Stadium so far. Reasons for this will no doubt vary depending on who you ask. No pay on the day, no ticket office open yesterday to purchase ahead of the game, Bank Holiday public transport, long distance parking and the threat of rain (the adjacent Pay and Display being closed today removing the most convenient parking lot), possibly even the attraction of the National Bog Snorkelling Championships at Llanwrtyd Wells - whatever the reasons, a reduced crowd after such an emphatic win (and not forgetting the 18,500 crowd there last Friday night for the egg chasers) should surely make the Directors of the club sit up and reconsider the whole entrance system with Stadco. If success doesn't draw in the crowds (I accept we still have the 2nd highest average this season in League 1) then something else is keeping them away and the club and stadium management need to do something about it. With no game next weekend, the table positions will have shifted about in our absence ahead of our 2 games in 4 days against Bristol City and MK Dons. Watching games in this division is far more enjoyable as the footballing standards are higher and forcing us to play at our best. When we do play well we are a match for any team, when we don't we are punished. The excitement levels are higher also, so unless the Bog Snorkelling was outstanding, and starts to run weekly, I hope that there is a good increase in the attendance for the next game as the absent fans are actually missing out on something at the moment. Gueret - 7 - some good saves but still not as commanding as he has been in the past Tate - 7 - overcame his poor end to the first half and fought for everything Austin - 7 - Fairly solid but beaten on the turn on a couple of occasions Iriekpen - 7 - Seemed involved in everything in defence today Ricketts - 6 - beaten too many times and forced to work too hard to cover some relatively straight forward situations Britton - 7 - runs everywhere but end product still missing on occasions Martinez - 7 some wayward passes, and didn't control the midfield as he has in recent games that I've seen Tudur-Jones - 6 - what he did he did well, but not involved enough McLeod - 9 - an outstanding game, with his two goals the sweetest shots seen in some time. Would have been a 10 had he known how to put the corner flag back in the hole : Trundle - 5 - despite his goal turning the game, was anonymous for far too long, and had a lazy streak about him today Akinfenwa - 6 - one excellent piece of footwork in the 2nd half but overall a bit ineffective today Robinson - 7 - brought life to a sagging midfield; more raw meat in the dressing room should keep him from looking for it on the field. O'Leary - 7 - brought composure to the centre and good distribution. Connor - not on long enough. Swansea 3-1 Barnsley - Match Report - Nigel Gigg
 With Swans starting to get back into the game Barnsley committed the cardinal sin of upending Trundle 10 yards outside the box. He and McLeod fought over the ball with Trundle pulling rank. He then proceeded to strike a perfect shot in the top corner. Typical Lee Trundle, has a poor game and pulls off one bit of magic to turn the match. As the game started to get a bit of edge, Leon picked up his third booking of the season and Roberto Martinez was also booked, inexcusably for speaking out of turn to the referee. Barnsley almost got their second equaliser on 64 minutes when Izzy Iriekpen in attempting to head, succeeded only in heading toward his own goal. With Willy diving to reach the ball, it evaded his reach but thankfully bounced to safety off the post. Barnsley introduced two substitutes after 70 minutes including ex Swans loan player Danny Nardiello and Swans replaced Leon Britton and Roberto Martinez with Andy Robinson and Kris O'Leary.  Shortly after coming on Robinson was again the victim of a crude challenge. This time ex Swans target Devaney was the culprit. However, unlike Saturday Robinson reacted and lashed with his boot from a prone position. Thankfully Mr Tanner didn't see Robinson's reaction and only Devaney was booked. Unluckily for Robinson his actions were seen by Kenny Jackett with the incident happening right under his nose. Jackett let Robbo have it with both barrels and I'm sure Robinson's ears will be ringing for a few days to come. Two minutes later and we saw the other side of Andy Robinson with a lovely exchange of passes with Lee Trundle and a left foot shot that Colgan did well to keep out. With 10 minutes left Barnsley had a goal disallowed for offside after Willy had palmed a shot straight into the path of a Barnsley player. The lineman's flag was followed by a sigh of relief from 98% of the 12,500 crowd. An injury to ex Leeds united Steve McPhail saw him limp off and restrict Barnsley to 10 men for last few minutes as they had used up all three substitutes. With 3 minutes to go both Akinfenwa and Trundle missed great opportunities to kill the game off, Trundles from a one on one with the keeper. With the game going into injury time Swans won a corner. Andy Robinson took the corner and hit a low cross to Akinfenwa at the near post. He controlled the ball and laid it back to Kevin McLeod on the edge of the box. He hit an unstoppable left foot shot high into the net to give the Swans a 3-1 lead. There was no way back for a demoralised Barnsley. After full time Barnsley's back room staff conducted their inquest with all their players in the centre circle. The argument became heated and two players needed to be separated by their Manager and Physio. So Swans pick up maximum points from their Bank Holiday programme. Today's was a workmanlike display and the individual brilliance of Lee trundle and in particular Kevin McLeod made the scoreline somewhat flattering. Ratings Gueret 6 - Still a long way off his best. Tate 8 - Pick of the defence again. Iriekpen 7 - Got through a huge amount of work and was never found wanting. Austin 7 - Usual solid performance. Ricketts 6 - Some way short of his best. Jones 8 - Gets better and better, undoubtedly has a very bright future. Britton 7- Usual level of commitment, did well but was never going to replicate Saturday's performance. Martinez 7 - Did a good day's work. McLeod 9 - Without his goals he would still have been MOM. Awesome. Akinfenwa 6 - A few nice touches. Trundle 6- Poor game but one touch of magic puts us on the road to victory. O'Leary 7- Covered loads of ground and gave nothing away. Robinson 7- Does add something. May need more anger management therapy. Connor - Only on 2 minutes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Swansea: Gueret, Ricketts, Austin, Tate, Iriekpen, Martinez (Robinson 66), Britton (O'Leary 66), McLeod, Tudur-Jones, Akinfenwa, Trundle (Connor 89). Subs Not Used: Murphy, Goodfellow. Booked: Britton, Martinez, Akinfenwa, Tudur-Jones. Goals: McLeod 14, Trundle 58, McLeod 90. Barnsley: Colgan, Carbon, Austin, Kay, Shuker, Devaney (Williams 74), Burns, Tonge (McPhail 65), Wroe, Conlon (Nardiello 65), Hayes. Subs Not Used: Scarsella, Hassell. Booked: Hayes, Devaney, Kay. Goals: Burns 35. Att: 12,554 Ref: S Tanner (Somerset).
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