Swansea City 1 Huddersfield 2 - Nigel Gigg, Pictures by Gary Martin and Andrew Thomas

A beautiful clear and warm but blustery day for the visit of Huddersfield. Peter Jackson's Huddersfield were one of the pre season favourites for promotion but have had a very poor start and were in 19th spot before today's game.

Swans, after 7 days off after the disappointing performance at Gillingham would be looking to get back to winning ways. Tom Butler, who many thought unlucky to be dropped for the trip to Gillingham, returned to the left of midfield with Andy Robinson replacing Leon Britton on the right to make way for him.

Side- Gueret, Amankwaah, Iriekepen, Lawrence, Austin, Robinson, Pratley, Tate, Butler, Akinfenwa, Knight. Subs- Oakes, Way, Britton, Williams, Fallon.

The first half was a similar tale to so many others over the last 9 months or so at the Liberty. Swans played the better football without really troubling the opposition's keeper.

Huddersfield played the tactics that prove so successful for visiting teams, i.e. defend in numbers leave one up front and attack at pace on the break.

By half time Swans had created just a handful of chances with Andy Robinson and Leon Knight going the closest for the Swans. It was Huddersfield that came closest to scoring in the 11th minute when Danny Schofield mis-hit a shot from 15 yards that most park keepers could have got down to save. However, Willy, for whatever reason took an eternity to decide the ball was on route for his goal before diving too late. He was fortunate to see the ball rebounding to safety off the post.

The second half started with some promise with a Darren Pratley cross/ shot going close to the far post. Hope and expectation were short lived as our soft underbelly of a defence again opened up on 49 minutes to let Huddersfield take the lead.

A through ball into the heart of the defence should have been cleared but Willy Gueret and his centre halves seemed to leave responsibility to each other allowing Gary Taylor-Fletcher a clear run on goal and he easily lifted the ball over Willy to put Huddersfield in front.

Swans should have had a penalty a minute later when Leon Knight was flattened in the box from a challenge from behind after taking the ball on his chest. Referee Mr Taylor, who never seems to miss a gentle tug or tap elsewhere, but misses everything in the penalty area, of course, saw nothing.

Bayo had a great chance with a header that went wide before Kenny Jackett rang the changes. Tom Williams replaced a limping Kevin Austin at left back and Leon Britton replaced Tom Butler. Butler had drifted out of the game once more well before his substitution and was lucky to still be on the field after one dreadful challenge after he had already been booked. Thankfully, this was another incident missed by Mr Taylor.

The substitutions didn't take long to bring a goal, but it was for Huddersfield. This time Gary Taylor-Fletcher again found space between four Swans defenders and scored easily past Willy Gueret with each of the defenders looking at each other, hopefully with the some feeling of shame.

The next 20 minutes or so was to put it crudely, pathetic. Swans showed no spirit, desire or fight and it was Huddersfield that created the clearer chances.

Leon Knight did pull one back 10 minutes from time with a well struck shot that found the corner of the net after going through a sea of defenders.

You would expect a scene from the Alamo to follow with Swans throwing everything forward. Izzy did go up front and even Willy came up for a corner in injury time, but it was all too little and far too late.

A home defeat is always hard to stomach, when it goes with a lack of passion not to mention skill it ruins many a weekend amongst Swans fans everywhere. Do players and management share that feeling? If they do, bar one or two, they certainly don't show it.

Ratings-

Gueret 4 – Almost as bad as the opposition at slowing things down. Communication with back four at its worst today.
Amankwaah 5 –Improved steadily since signing, backward step today.
Lawrence 5 – Worst game from him since his signing.
Iriekepen 5- As with others individually looked OK, collectively awful.
Austin 6 – Seemed determined not to be the weak link today.

Robinson 6 – Flits around and fails to bring others into the game, That said still looks the most likely to score a goal from nothing.
Pratley 7 – Won lots of tackles in midfield but distribution leaves a lot to be desired. Tate 6 – Some great tackles. No composure at all when he got forward and playing him and Pratley in centre midfield leaves us devoid of any sort of creativity.
Butler 5- After being on the end of a strong challenge, seemed determined to seek retribution and lucky not to see red.

Akinfenwa 5 – Never stopped trying but lacked support from midfield.
Knight 6 – Took his goal well, but again lacked support.

Britton 6 – Added something on the right but still to reproduce last years form.
Williams 4 – Guilty again of trying 50 yard passes when a 10 yard pass is open to him.
Way 5- Came on when heads and dropped and the game was gone.