Match report

It was a great team effort which got us the win today – teamwork, that is, between the players on the pitch and the Swans fans in the stand who roared them on tirelessly to this hard fought win. In the end, the players deserved to grind this one out, having been the more controlled and impressive side throughout; but they must have been lifted by the support from the 4 – 500 or so Jacks who sang positively and vociferously throughout. Well done the away support.

Oakes returned in Goal today with Willy nowhere to be seen (not even on the bench). Painter made his debut at left back with Amankwaah on the right. Austin and Lawrence occupied the centre half berths. In midfield, Robinson and Britton occupied the left and right flanks respectively, with O'Leary and Tate inside. Up front Fallon partnered Trundle.

The Swans began in determined fashion, playing slick and urgent football to feet. The main creative forces in these early stages were Britton, Robinson and Trundle, who is showing signs of getting back to his best form. On two minutes some good work by Trundle led to Britton shooting over; and on five minutes some excellent interplay between these three players culminated in a neat inside ball from Robinson to Trundle, whose shot on the turn was blocked. A couple of minutes later a Robinson cross was almost snaffled home at the near post by the energetic Britton.

We had a couple of scares soon after this, first when Constantine fired over after some slack Swans defending, and subsequently from a 25-yard free kick which was hammered against our wall. But we were soon back on the attack, with Britton delivering two excellent crosses in quick succession, both of which were cleared under pressure from Fallon. Then a Robinson snapshot went straight at the keeper. We had a scare on 18 minutes when Oakes failed to gather a high ball under pressure from Constantine, and had to watch in agony as the ball bobbled towards our goal, before being booted to safety. But again we went back on the front foot - Robbo cut in dangerously from the left and was denied by an excellent defensive challenge when he seemed poised to pull the trigger; and on 39 minutes Trundle released an excellent through ball to Tate who cantered into the area before fizzing a shot across goal and unfortunately well wide.


After this, the game entered an aimless spell, where we seemed to lose our grip on proceedings, allowing the home team to get more of a foothold. This wasn't helped by the weakness of our centre midfield, which failed to exert any influence and which allowed the home team to grow in confidence. Fortunately, Vale could muster nothing more than a couple of speculative efforts, one of which was scrambled wide for a corner by Oakes, and a long throw-in which fizzed across our goal. At the half time whistle we applauded the team's efforts, but felt that we really should have turned our superiority into goals.

Unusually, we were first off the blocks after half time, when a Britton cross was nodded down to Robinson by Fallon; unfortunately, Robbo got his volley all wrong and sent it flying well over. The home team then roused themselves and began to exert some pressure. Fortunately, the quality of their shooting was dire, with Constantine (a "Leon" that we definitely don't want) firing straight at Oakes, and Whitaker firing over. We were having to battle hard now, and although Tate had improved, we still had no real grip on the midfield and chances were now hard to come by. We did think we had taken the lead when Robinson slipped a ball through to Trundle who lashed home, only to be called off side. Sensing the game slipping away, Jackett made two substitutions on 65 minutes with MacDonald and Butler replacing Robinson and O'Leary (who was clearly not match fit). But at this stage Vale were on top for the first time, and a weak header from Lawrence presented Constantine with a half chance from 18 yards. Again, this hapless forward fired well over.

But the introduction of Butler into the fray gave us renewed energy and a further dimension, as he began to torment the opposition from the left flank and indeed from further inside where he had to foray, as Robinson had done, for possession. On 66 minutes, the constantly creative Britton slipped the ball to Butler who tried to wriggle himself into a position for a shot, only to be crowded out in the box. And on 72 minutes Trundle, who was having a quiet second half, laid off a lovely ball to Butler who volleyed over on the run. But Vale responded with a flying effort from Jeff Smith which flew past Oakes' post. The game was more open though, but the constant mazy running of Britton on the right flank was causing all sorts of problems for the home side, a cross from Leon having to be smartly gathered by the home keeper on 76 minutes. Another Vale effort flew over our bar on 77 minutes, before a Britton shot was comfortably saved on 85.

On 88 minutes we thought our last chance had gone – another ball from Britton found Trundle in the box. His shimmy gave him half a yard of space, but he whipped his left foot shot over the bar. But we were not to be denied. In the 90th minute the ball broke to Trundle 30 yards out on the left side of the box. He burst past two players before guiding an excellent low shot into the corner – a great finish to win the game, and the sort of chance which was bouncing back off the post for LT late last season. The crowd and the players went mad – we thought it would never come but it did! And as for the crowning moment in injury time – please watch it on TV as my words will not do justice the skill shown by Trundle in leaving two defenders for dead before crossing from the bye-line to Butler who scrambled the ball home. The celebrations at the final whistle were more joyous than I can remember for a long time, both among the fans and the players. This win had a really good feel to it.

Player ratings:

Oakes - 7 Couple of first half flaps but excellent under the high ball second half

Amankwaah - 7 Steady and fluid.
Painter - 7 Nervous at the start but did fine
Lawrence - 8 Got his head to most things
Austin - 8 As above, in a centre half performance that was much improved from last year's at this ground.

Robinson - 7 Was booed by some of course, but much of our creative work in the first half came through Robbo, and he had to drift infield to have any chance of seeing the ball.
Britton - 9 Fantastic; a constant attacking threat and determined always to win the ball back.
Tate - 6 Poor first half but got more involved after the break
O'Leary - 4 Not a tackle nor any influence on the game. But in his defence, he is clearly not match fit and would presumably would not have been picked but for the midfield injury crisis.

Fallon - 6 Put himself about on the park but needs to work on his movement in the box. There were plenty of crosses today but he wasn't near any of them.
Trundle - 8 In the end he won the game for us, but he is far less selfish these days, using his tough to thread balls to other players and play them in.


Butler - 8 A fantastic cameo. Ran at players and showed an eye for goal.
MacDonald - 6 Out of position in centre midfield he put some grit into the performance.

So a great day out for the travelling Jacks (if they are allowed to be called that), and a great outcome for the management and team. Credit to Jackett for the positive substitutions which had the right effect at a key point in the game. And credit to the team for plugging on and getting what they deserved. The only concerns – we lack pace up front now, of course, and we could really do with a pacy alternative to stretch defences. Also, centre midfield was poor today and we missed Pratley badly. Something is needed to address the midfield crisis or we could lose crucial points before Christmas. But this was a good one - lets hope we can keep up the momentum next week.

Port Vale: Goodlad, Abbey, Walker, Pilkington, Miles (Talbot 22), Whitaker, Harsley, Sonner, Jeff Smith, Constantine, Sodje, Talbot (Cardle 53). Subs Not Used: Anyon, Gardner, Glover.

Booked: Sonner.

Swansea: Oakes, Amankwaah, Lawrence, Austin, Painter, Britton, O'Leary (MacDonald 64), Tate, Robinson (Butler 64), Trundle, Fallon. Subs Not Used: Iriekpen, Akinfenwa, Jones.

Booked: Amankwaah, Painter.

Goals: Trundle 90, Butler 90.

Att: 4,615

Ref: F Graham (Essex).