Match report

Peter Charles

The rather low perspective from the away terrace at the ?Earth Stadium? meant that our view of some of the key incidents in this match was pretty restricted.

Similarly, the (literally) freezing temperatures in frozen Donny today made note taking impossible (well. I wasn?t taking my gloves off for anyone!). So this will be more of a set of observations from the terraces rather than a full report, I?m afraid. But despite all this, there is no doubt who the most influential figure was in today?s game ? cue premiership super-ref Mr Dermot Gallagher, referee extraordinaire, whose flambouyant performance today will surely have made an impression on the assessors. It certainly made an impression on us!

The Swans lined up with Trundle partnering Connor up front, and a midfield comprising Martinez and Tudor-Jones, with Britton wide right and Robinson on the left. Monk partnered Austin in the centre of defence, and Ricketts (left) and Tate (right) held the full back berths. Gueret retained his place in goal.

And the Swans started very brightly indeed, playing the ball to feet, working neat triangles and dominating possession for the first ten minutes or so, particularly through the industry of OTJ and Robinson, and which suggested that this may have been a more fruitful encounter had it not been for the intervention of Mr G. But the intervention came on 12 minutes as a result of one of the home side?s more direct attacks. Austin?s foul to bring down a roving Donny attacker was certainly worthy of a free kick and probably a booking. But most observers felt that the action was well wide of centre, and there were plenty of defenders around. Denial of a clear goal-scoring opportunity? Don?t know ? will be very interested to see the TV pictures.

But Mr G had no doubt and gave Austin a straight red.

The Swans defence reshuffled with Ricketts moving into the centre and Robbo dropping in to left back. Within minutes a melee in the defence led to Donny player crashing to the ground in the confusion, and Mr G judging that he had been fouled. Once again, the angle of viewing made this impossible to judge, but Mr G was determined to destroy our afternoon, and awarded the penalty.

McIndoe squeezed it under Willy?s despairing dive, and the 6500 or so home fans, replete with their Arsenal vouchers, burst into life.

At this point we feared the worst ? Donny were buoyed up and confident, and we suspected that this could be turn into a rout. But to our team?s immense credit, they kept their heads and their shape. KJ shuffled them into a more sustainable defensive formation, with the energetic Britton dropping to right full back, and Tate going into the centre to allow Ricketts to return to left back. This gave us the platform to push forward with greater confidence and for the next 20 minutes we were much the better side, once again playing neat constructive football. This was largely orchestrated by Martinez and an ever-improving OTJ in midfield, but also through some great hold up play by Trundle, and good movement from Connor.

But it was Robinson who was our most threatening player at this stage, constantly probing for weaknesses on the flank and seeking the strike on goal. Indeed he came within a whisker of restoring parity when once such foray culminated in him striking just wide of the home goal. But we didn?t have to wait long for our glorious equaliser. Trundle controlled the ball brilliantly and flicked the ball wide to Ricketts. The Wales man then cut inside two defenders and drilled the ball past the home keeper at his near post )God help this guy against Henry on Wednesday!). A fine goal, and a deserved one.

The rest of the half rather lost its pattern and it shape, as we sought to hold out to half time, and the home side struggled to press home their one man advantage. There were a couple of wayward efforts from the home side, and Willy had to make a couple of smart saves, but it was half time parity well deserved.

After the break we expected to be well and truly under the cosh, particularly we were now playing against a string wind.

But an onslaught never came, and again we played the better football. One particularly fluent move involving five Swans players culminated in a low OTJ shot which drew an excellent save from the home keeper. But generally we did struggle to muster strikes on target as we preferred (rightly) to maintain our shape. And whilst Donny threw a lot of players forward, they didn?t really have the quality to make their one man advantage count, preferring instead the more direct approach which played into our hands. Yes, they caused a few flutters ? there were two wayward strikes, when players could have done better, and Willy had to rush out at the feet of a couple of on-rushing strikers more than once.

But generally our defence had coped particularly well, and in particular Britton was a revelation at full back. So when the winner came, it was actually quite unexpected. It arose from an unfortunate injury to Tate, who hobbled off with what appeared to be an ankle injury. This forced another defensive shuffle with Ricketts going to centre half and McLeod replacing him at left full back.

And ultimately this proved to be a bridge to far, as on 82 minutes, McLeod appeared to be in a position to clear ball from the goal-line on the left side of the penalty area. Instead, he gifted possession to Heffernan, who drove in a shot at Willy?s goal. The effort was parried, but the same player drove the rebound into the corner, despite the attentions of two Swans players on the goal line.

It was cruel luck on the Swans, who really deserved a point from this one ? even the Radio 5 Live summariser thought so! But to their immense credit, they did not let their heads drop, and despite being leaden-footed by this stage, they launched a late onslaught, which could easily have brought them an equaliser.

First Forbes (on for Connor) picked up a long ball, turned his marker and drove a smart effort towards goal -? the home keeper fumbled his save, only to turn and gratefully see the ball drop over the bar (what price for five, Arsenal?). And in injury time, Tudor-Jones mustered a fierce strike, which was deflected for a corner.

Ironically, it was from the corner that Donny could have extended their lead ? Willy had come up for it, it was easily cleared, and a Donny striker fired wide from 40 yards.

The final whistle sent the home fans into raptures ? you would think they had beaten Arsenal! But they will know it was scarcely deserved, and our team deserves credit for playing well and for keeping their heads up in adversity.

Gueret ? 9 Little chance with goal, but back to his best today.
Ricketts ? 8 Calm at the back and supported the attack with some quality wing play
Tate ? 7 A good game until he limped off
Austin ? Dismissed early in the game, and only the TV will tell us whether justified or not (I wouldn?t rely on Mr G?s judgement)
Monk ? 8 Solid as a rock and headed everything
Robinson ? 7 A constant threat on the flanks, though he faded
Britton ? 8 A terrific all round effort, particularly as out of position for most of it
Martinez ? 7 Led the team well and coaxed the midfield efforts
OTJ ? 7 A very good first half, winning the ball and driving forward with purpose. Faded a little
Trundle ? 7 Heavily marked, but some excellent hold-up play and a good assist for the goal
Connor ? 6 Some great movement in first half but no real end product
Forbes ? Worked hard when he came on and came close to saving the game
McLeod ? the only one to let the side down. Admittedly out of position, but he looked flat-footed when we was meant to have fresh legs.

Mr Gallagher ? Did his best to disrupt the balance of the game and one or two of his decisions were just bizarre (e.g. the booking for Willy). But I?ll reserve judgement on the sending off and the penalty until I see them on TV).

In general we can treat this as a moral victory, as it was a genuinely good footballing performance and we were desperately unlucky not to get something out of it. It shows that we can pretty much match any team on any ground in this division, which is more than most of us expected. But things are a little worrying now on the injury and suspension front. Our lack of cover in all positions is likely to be very exposed in the games to come, but particularly in midfield and up front. Time for us all to dig in ? this could be our first really testing spell of the season.