Nottm Forest 3 Swansea City 1 - Match Report by Peter Charles, Match Pictures by Andrew Thomas

This was a game that showed the best and the worst of the Swans at the moment. In the first half we were organised, strong and committed. We played some good football, had most of the possession and created a smattering of half-chances, deservedly taking a lead into the break. In the second half, in just a couple of mad minutes, the frailties of our defence was cruelly exposed and we collapsed like a pack of cards. Difficult to see what we could have done differently on the day, but Kenny Jackett will have to be concerned about the manner in which the game turned against us having controlled it for so long.

The Swans line up saw Oakes retain his place in goal, with Tate (right) and Williams (left) as the full backs. Lawrence and Iriekpen were the centre half pairing. Robinson started left midfield (though rarely stayed there) with Britton on the right. Way and Pratley was the centre midfield pairing with Knight and Fallon up front.

The first half was largely a war of attrition with relatively few chances created for either side. The Swans though played the more constructive football, with Knight's pacy running constantly causing problems for the home defence, and the tenacious Pratley and Way winning the midfield battle. For most of the half Forest looked largely impotent, relying on the hopeful long ball over the full back for their pacy strikers, which caused no problems for our defence, most of their efforts being shepherded comfortably back to Oakes by Lawrence or Izzy.

But despite our general superiority we were reluctant to commit too many players forward and as a result we created few real chances. An early shot from Pratley was deflected for a corner, and on 16 minutes a poor clearance from the Forest keeper fell to Robbo whose 40-yard effort drifted wide. On 21 minutes Way chipped just wide from an acute angle after some determined harrying by Britton. But our clearest opportunity came on 29 minutes when Knight played a delightful through ball to Fallon in the box. The kiwi stepped in side his marker and seemed set to pull the trigger only to be brought to the floor by a clumsy challenge. What looked like a nailed-on penalty was turned down.

As for Forest, they had created literally nothing, and so when we took the lead on 42 minutes, an excellent glanced header into the bottom corner by Fallon from a Robinson corner, the home team could have no complaints. Strangely, the goal spurred them into life, and Oakes was immediately forced into an excellent one handed save from a vicious shot from Commons. A minute later, another low Forest strike forced Oakes into a smart save at his near post, and the resulting corner flew across our goal and almost crept in at the far post. So despite our deserved lead, the final few minutes had clearly shown that we could not expect and easy ride after the break.

However, it was the Swans who began the second half the brighter. In the first few minutes there was a goalmouth scramble with the ball eventually being turned back to Robinson, whose shot was blocked. And a few minutes later, Robbo fashioned how own opportunity, rounding two defenders before hitting an unfortunately weak left footed shot which was easily saved. Unfortunately, this had been our chance to seal the game, because suddenly and inexplicably, the game turned on its head as we conceded two almost identical goals in the space of two minutes. For the first, a routine cross-field ball found Perch in a wide left position. He advanced unopposed towards goal before lashing a low shot past Oakes. The subdued home fans of course burst into life, but the riposte from the travelling jacks was excellent, as we raised our singing in response. But we were quickly silenced again when an identical move allowed Commons to lash home from the same position, our right sided defence hopelessly exposed.

This clearly rattled the Swans, and for a while we struggled to regain a foothold and began making unforced errors. Hopes of a recovery were pretty much extinguished on 60 minutes when, following a mix up this time on our left side, Agogo advanced unopposed on Oakes, deftly chipping the ball over him into the net. A couple of Swans substitutions followed, Bayo replacing the now ineffective Knight, and MacDonald replacing Britton. In the latter stages we worked a number of crossing opportunities, but the quality of the ball into the box was always poor - with Pratley, Williams and Robinson all among the culprits (although Fallon's limited movement in the box often meant they had no target to aim for). On 85 minutes we thought we had pulled one back when Bayo played a neat through ball to Fallon, who turned and struck a fine low shot just wide. But overall, the home side finished the stronger and could easily have grabbed another goal or two. Remarkably, we had been well beaten without ever looking particularly poor and without Forest ever looking that strong.

Ratings:

Oakes - 7 Some good saves and commanded his box well. Had little chance with the goals.
Tate - 5 Seemed AWOL for the goals, and his distribution was weak.
Williams - 6 Some great surges forward but erratic in his defending.
Iriekpen - 6 Looked strong until we came under real pressure
Lawrence - 7 Strongest defender on the day.
Britton - 6 Tenacious and busy, though tends not to deliver a lot into the box from wide positions.
Robinson - 6 Not his best game; wandered and provided little width. But still popped up with some threatening moments.
Way - 7 Strong and determined if lacking some creativity on the day.
Pratley - 7 Commanding and won the midfield battle with Way
Knight - 6 Some good moments but was largely marked out of it today. Life gets tough for strikers when defenders start working them out!
Fallon - 7 Plenty of energy and commitment, and popped up with a good goal. Needs to work on his movement in the box.
Bayo - 6 Battled hard
MacDonald - 6 A decent and committed effort.

So this was a big disappointment after a promising start. All in all, we played OK as a team, and made the league leaders look very ordinary for much of the game. But that's no good if we are going to fold for a critical period and concede a hatful of goals. Jackett will need to look very carefully at his options, and at the very least consider how his defence can become better marshalled, and how his midfield can provide greater width. I did find myself wondering today what a really strong tactician/ man-manager could achieve with this bunch of players - maybe we will find out. Things could still go either way from here - both for our season and for Kenny Jackett's career!