Match report

Swans went into today's game out of the automatic promotion spots for the first time since September. The optimist will point to the fact we are unbeaten since Boxing Day and the pessimist that we have won just one League game in the last 7.

Today we welcome Hartlepool United to the Liberty Stadium. Hartlepool have struggled this season and came into today's lying 19th.

Many Swans fans would have feared that they would not see Lee Trundle again in a Swans shirt. There was heartening news before kick off that Lee Trundle will sign a new 3 ½ year contract next week. Trunds returned from injury today and started on the bench.

Izzy Iriekepen also returned from injury, but he returned straight into the starting line up ahead of new signing Steve Watt. Our other new signing, (doesn't that sound great), Darren Way didn't feature as he failed in his battle against injury.

Side – Gueret, Tate, Monk, Iriekepen, Ricketts, Britton, Martinez, Robinson, McLeod, Akinfenwa, Knight. Subs – Murphy, Austin, Watt, Forbes, Trundle.

It was Hartlepool that started the brighter and Willy Gueret's blushes were saved in the first few minutes when his clearance rebound off Jon-Paul Pittman onto the roof of the net. Willy would have been relieved to see referee, Mr Probert, give hand ball against Pittman.

Swans first attack saw a mistake from the Hartlepool keeper, Dimitrios Konstantopoulas. Kevin McLeod's cross from wide left seemed to be left by the keeper, and struck the top of the bar.

On 7 minutes and excellent run and cross from Sam Ricketts found Adebayo Akinfenwa just 8 yards out from goal. With no pressure he seemed to mistime his header which floated gently into the grateful keeper's arms.

Bayo had another opportunity a few minutes later when he collected a Kevin McLeod cross/ shot. Bayo did well to control and turn but his left foot shot from just 8 yards was woeful and was easily saved by the keeper.

Bayo then showed his other side. Another deep cross to the far post saw Bayo putting pressure on the keeper. The keeper only succeeded in parrying the ball back across his own goal and a grateful Leon Britton was able to stab the ball home from within the 6 yard box.

Those expecting Hartlepool's heads to drop and Swans to start to dominate were soon to be disappointed as Hartlepool responded well to the setback of going a goal down. Their front two of Pittman and Daly were lively and strong and causing Garry Monk and Izzy Iriekepen more than a few headaches. Hartlepool's other danger man was Tom Butler in midfield who was breaking from deep to cause us problems. Butler, however, pulled up with a pulled hamstring on 27 minutes and was stretchered off to be replaced by Eifion Williams.

Swans were playing much the better football with Kevin McLeod and Andy Robinson having some excellent touches, but there were far too many misunderstandings and too many wayward passes.

For all their nice football Swans provided very little threat to the Hartlepool goal. Leon Knight did go down under a challenge from Konstantopoulos, but Mr Probert waved play on.

Swans probably just about deserved their 1-0 lead at half time but they had been far from convincing.

Swans started the second half as they had the first, giving Hartlepool the opportunity to attack. The game continued to lack any fluidity and Swans only seemed able to play well in short bursts. If Swans needed a wake up call, it duly arrived on 57 minutes when a tremendous drive from Pittman smashed against the bar with Willy well beaten.

On 61 minutes Sam Ricketts was booked for bringing down Pittman on the edge of the box. Willy Gueret made a superb save from the resultant free kick which was well struck by Gavin Strachan and seemed destined for the top corner before Willy's outstretched hand turned it over the bar. Kenny Jackett made the substitution everyone wanted on 65 minutes bringing on Lee Trundle. His choice of Leon Knight to make way for Trunds mystified many, as Bayo was having another poor game and was winning little in the air.

Lee Trundle's introduction failed to have the desired effect as Hartlepool continued to have the better of things. Trunds was restricted to one piece of magic that result in a through ball that almost put Bayo through.

With 5 minutes to go Adrian Forbes replaced Bayo who had also tired badly.

With Swans fans starting to nervously whistle for the end of the game Hartlepool forced a couple of corners. Swans had all too easily given away corners in the second half and this was always Hartlepool's most likely chance of a goal with their strong physical presence.

The second of the corners was well controlled by Pittman on the edge of the 6 yard box. With his back to goal he rolled the ball across to Eifion Williams and his hard low shot beat Willy at this near post.

It was a hugely disappointing end to a poor game. Earlier this season we would have demolished Hartlepool. The squad is stronger now yet the players have lost confidence. Kenny Jackett will have his work cut out in the next few weeks to restore the players belief in their own ability.

Ratings-

Gueret 6- One great save but distribution out was awful.

Tate 8 – Another excellent game.
Monk 6- Started very poorly but did improve.
Iriekepen 7 – Came out on top in a tough battle with Daly.
Ricketts 9 – Excellent in both attack and defence.

Britton 7 – Great to see Leon score. Had a decent game.
Robinson 7 – Gives the ball away too much but always a threat going forward.
Martinez 7 – Dominated the midfield and that should have but have been the platform for victory today.
McLeod 6- Is becoming an enigma. Brilliant in patches but some absolutely dreadful crosses and shots.

Akinfenwa 5 – Really seems to be trying too hard at the moment.
Knight 6- Looked a real livewire but we just didn't use his obvious pace.

Subs –
Trundle 6- Did little to lift spirits.
Forbes 6 – Again did little to gain his place back in the starting line up.

Swansea City 1 Hartlepool 1 - Match Report - Paul Nicholas, Pictures Andrew Thomas and Gary Martin

Giggsy will give you all the match facts as he does so well every week, but here are my own thoughts on the game.

The Swans went into today's game on an unbeaten league run of four, but with only one win in that time, found themselves sitting in 3rd place in League 1. With Hartlepool lying in the bottom quarter, most fans were expecting a comfortable return to winning ways, and a crowd of just under 14,000 turned up to witness it.

Cue Hartlepool' arrival. Not a pretty team to watch, but a big, strong, awkward outfit, which looked likely to cause problems when going forward from the off, and seemed capable of defending against our aerial attacks from a kneeling position, given the widespread vertically challenged characters in our midfield and attack. We do have Bayo of course, but his inability to become airborne and failure to win what are critical heading duals is becoming frustrating to say the least.

In the first half, we played some neat one touch football, with Britton, Robinson, Martinez and Rickets involved throughout. Knight looked very lively and was always capable of creating space for himself in most situations. At times, I thought that he and McLeod were capable of conjuring up a telepathic understanding, until I saw some of McLeod's crosses. Obviously so many mobile phones in the stadium must have been interfering with the communication waves reaching ol' Kev. Well something was to blame because the final ball was often woeful and killed off most of the promise that was building up in our attacking moves.

We took the lead on 20 minutes when Bayo fairly challenged the Hartlepool keeper (whose name is far too long to type here) who failed to hold the ball. It eventually fell to Leon Britton (after more hassling work from Akinfenwa) who scored from 6 yards. Full of embarrassment at having slapped at the ball, their keeper then ran after the ref to complain that he had been fouled, and was promptly booked for his efforts making his afternoon to that point complete.

Despite goal rush anticipation rising dramatically, the game carried on in the 1st half as a bit of a scrappy affair. The highlight for me was Gueret's quick excursion out of his 18 yard box, towards the touchline, to clear a loose ball, and seeing him bend it around Kenny Jackett standing in the dugout area, and straight into the arms of the Monkey Hangers Manager.

It had not been a good 45 minutes, our efforts had produced a goal, but this was never going to be a comfortable lead against these visitors. The last game I went to (Scunthorpe) saw me leave for home at this stage due to boredom and hypothermia, but with today's weather being quite pleasant, and a hot cup of coffee inside me at half time, I thought I'd give it a shot and try to stay the full course.

From the start of the 2nd half, the crowd were calling for Trundle, inevitably, but the question was who he would replace. My choice was Akinfenwa - if you've got a big man up front who is winning ball in the air and causing problems with ball at foot, leave him on, but Bayo wasn't and even faded in the 2nd half. The choice of Knight to come off for Trundle (64 minutes) was more than just surprising, it was unbelievable, as there was a clear 2nd choice (behind Akinfenwa) in who to take off in McLeod, who was all one touch but light on delivery and as the game went on was keen to get rid of the ball at the earliest opportunity.

One touch football is fine, but they should have been getting somewhere with it, this wasn't a training ground run around. A few players showed good control of the ball, and created space for themselves, but we were threatening little more than the patience of the supporters.

When Hartlepool hit the cross bar, Gueret had already made one superb save, and the threat of us losing the lead was looming. Forbes on for Akinfenwa on 85 minutes was almost pointless, but well anticipated by Mr Martin sitting next to me, and triggered our own Predictabooking to amuse us in the last minutes of the match.

With only the board showing added time to come, I thought we'd got away with this one, but true to recent form the fans were sent away in the frame of mind sufficient to ensure that car rage will be witnessed somewhere near you on the journeys home tonight.

We had no bite up front, there was a lot of work done in midfield, by all four to differing degrees, but nothing materialised. Let's hope that Way is the missing link to get the forwards moving, and with Tom Williams to return, it still seems that the elusive chemical element is that nine foot tall striker who can jump, run fast and anticipate where his midfielders are going next.

Having watched this match from the lower tiers of the West Stand, the silence of some sections of the crowd in the East Stand (from where I have watched all previous games) was obvious. How good are these Stewards at killing an atmosphere in a match? One section is punished and vilified for standing up and enjoying themselves, and as a result have to keep seated and quiet. They should turn their heads to the right where it seems they forgot to install seats. At least be consistent.

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