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Match report |
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Swindon Town 0-0 Swansea City | |
Swindon Town 0-0 Swansea City - Nigel GiggMy personal midseason break in Florida coincided with the recent dip and form that has seen Swans pick up just 1 point from a possible 9. Still most Swans fans were confident that today would see a return to winning ways against bottom club Swindon Town. Both Alan Tate and Kevin Austin were missing, serving suspensions for their recent sending offs. The restructured defence again saw Kevin McLeod at left back with Sam Ricketts moving across to right back. Andy Robinson, who has taking over the scorers mantle in recent weeks kept his place on the left of midfield. The bench was full of attacking possibilities, but this was more to do with the players available than Kenny Jackett switching to an all out attacking policy.  Swindon have had a very poor season to date and were well adrift at the bottom a few weeks back. However, a League run of 2 wins and 3 draws from the last 5 games would give them confidence going into today's game. They included on loan Andy Gurney who is due back at the Liberty Stadium on Monday. They also had ex swan and Welsh International full back Steve Jenkins on the bench. The tremendous away support was in good voice prior to kick off and was spurred on by the announcer screaming out Andy Gurney's name and Swindon's ridiculous Robin mascot 'doing the Ayatollah' directly in front of the travelling fans. Side- Gueret, Ricketts, Monk, Iriekepen, McLeod, Britton, Matinez, Jones, Robinson, Akinfenwa, Trundle. Subs- Murphy, Forbes, Goodfellow, Connor, Thorpe. The game started at a furious pace with both defences looking nervous. Sam Ricketts had the game's first shot with a low drive that was straight at Rhys Evans in the Swindon goal although he made a meal of collecting the goal.  On 10 minutes an excellent pass from Lee Trundle found Andy Robinson on the left. Robinson beat his man and fired a left foot shot that Evans did well to turn around the post for a corner. Andy Gurney, who was already the target for abuse from the Swans fans, did himself no favours in winning back the affection of the Swans faithful with a rash challenge on Leon Briton. His wild lash was only inches from Leon's waistline and had he connected he would surely have been dismissed. Swindon were far from impressive and looked there for the taking, but Swans attacking moves were breaking down far too easily on what was a difficult surface. With 5 minutes of the half remaining Leon Britton rode 2 challenges and was through on goal. He unleashed a powerful shot from 12 yards, but Evans did well to save at the foot of the post.  With a minute of the half to play Swans had their best chance when an Andy Robinson free kick was met perfectly by Adebayo Akinfenwa but his header from 8 yards out was straight at the keeper when he really should have scored. Swindon then went straight down the other end and Owain Jones had to dive in to block a close range shot. He was badly injured in the process and went off on a stretcher with what seemed to be an ankle injury. Swans would have felt the 0-0 half time score line didn't reflect the dominance they had shown for large periods of the first half, but that said Swans had all too often given the ball away and their attacks lacked width and imagination. Marc Goodfellow replaced Owain Jones for the start of the second half, with Andy Robinson going central midfield. The second half started in heavy drizzle dashing the hopes of around 2,000 Swans fans sat behind the goal in the uncovered stand who would have hoped to get to the end of the game dry.  They were soon on the edge of their seats when Lee Trundle was bought down just outside the box. Andy Robinson floated the free kick which just cleared the crossbar. Swans had started the second half with much more purpose and were creating plenty of chances. Most of these were falling to Marc Goodfellow who was finding space in and around the Swindon area. On the hour Lee Trundle was hacked down in front of the dugouts and referee Mr Russell, who was close to the action, only gave a free kick after the linesman flagged.  Trundle received lengthy treatment, but hobbled off to be replaced by Adrian Forbes. A few minutes after Forbes introduction, he was in the thick of the action. Adebayo Akinfenwa made one of his trademark runs with defenders bouncing off him. With Bayo 10 yards from goal, Forbes took the ball of Bayo's feet and fired a low shot that seemed goal bound only for Evans to make another terrific save. With 20 minutes to go Forbesey made a great run down the right wing but with support arriving in the box, his final ball was poor and was cleared for a corner. The resultant corner fell to Marc Goodfellow outside the box and his excellent volley looked goal bound but was blocked by a defender.  Seconds later, and Goodfellow had another chance when he turned a cracked a powerful shot against the Swindon bar with Evans for once well beaten. With 5 minutes remaining the Swans defence fell asleep and substitute Hameur Bouazza had a free header but headed wide of the post. Swans broke straight down to the other end and Andy Robinson was through on goal. With just the keeper to beat he chose to lift the ball over Evans when he had time to take the keeper on from closer range. Evans managed to tip Robbo's shot over the bar. With just seconds left Swans again fell asleep at the back and a right wing cross found substitute Charlie Comyn-Platt just 3 yards out and inexplicably his first time shot went wide. It was the game's final chance.  Swans will feel this was 2 points lost against a very average Swindon side. Ratings- Gueret 7 - Little to do. Ricketts 7- Didn't get forward as much as usual. Monk 7 - Very solid but distribution poor today. Iriekepen 6- Seemed to pick up an injury in the first half and never looked comfortable. McLeod 6- Poor start but improved markedly after the break. Britton 7 - Usual terrier like performance. Martinez 7 - More than a match for Gurney in the midfield battle. Jones 6 - Hardly got forward. Robinson 8 - Excellent throughout. Akinfenwa 5 - Only one decent run, hardly one an aerial challenge. Trundle 6 - A couple of nice touches, but another off day. Subs - Goodfellow 8- Unlucky not to score. Forbes 6 - Works hard but all too often lacks composure when it's needed. Despite picking up just the one point, Swans sit proudly back on top of the table at the end of 2005. If anyone had predicted that 12 months ago, others would have laughed. We shouldn't forget how far we have come and realise there will continue to be setbacks along the way to our goal of promotion. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Swindon: Evans, Smith (Jenkins 39), Nicholas, O'Hanlon, Ifil, Shakes, Miglioranzi (Comyn-Platt 83), Gurney, Brown, Fallon, Holgate (Bouazza 57). Subs Not Used: Heaton, Mikolanda. Swansea: Gueret, Ricketts, McLeod, Monk, Iriekpen, Britton, Martinez, Tudur-Jones (Goodfellow 45), Robinson, Akinfenwa, Trundle (Forbes 62). Subs Not Used: Murphy, Thorpe, Connor. Att: 8,985 Ref: M Russell (Hertfordshire). 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. |
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