Match Report

A bigger crowd than we have seen of late for the visit of lowly Gillingham, who currently have the worst away record in the Football League this season.

Roberto Martinez was forced into the first change in the starting line up in a few weeks with Leon Britton replacing the injured Ferrie Bodde.

The incentive for the Swans couldn't have been greater with a point enough to put us back on top of League Division One and a win opening up a two point gap over everyone else.

Roberto Martinez received a great ovation prior to kick off following his thoroughly deserved Manager of The Month award for October. There was also a minutes applause in memory of Ray Gravell whose sudden death shocked everyone earlier this week. It says much for him as a man that he commanded such respect at the home of football in Swansea.

Side- De Vries, Rangel, Lawrence, Monk, Painter, Anderson, Britton, Pratley, Butler, Feeney, Scotland. Subs- Austin, Tate, Allen, Robinson, Duffy

The game started slowly with the Swans looking to build from the back and Gillingham putting eight men behind the ball from the start. Tom Butler had the games first shot that Royce in the Gillingham goal failed to hold and Warren Feeney following up was just beaten to the loose ball.

On nine minutes Gillingham took a surprise lead when Facey picked up a loose ball thirty yards out. He unleashed a terrific driving shot that flew in off the far post. A minute or two earlier Marcus Painter had picked up a foot injury and was hobbling around, and unsurprisingly Facey's shot came from the area where Painter would have been defending. Kevin Austin replaced Painter immediately after the goal.

Swansea almost conceded a second just a minute after going behind when a woeful back pass from Garry Monk was intercepted by Mulligan, but De Vries saved his captain's blushes with a fine save. Darren Pratley almost pulled the Swans level with a terrific drive that Royce tipped over the crossbar. Paul Anderson's pace was now causing the Gills defence problems, but on twenty two minutes, Feeney was red carded.

Feeney and Gillingham left back King both went for a lose ball and from my seat in the West Stand I thought that King's challenge was the higher. I was fully expecting when the ref blew up that we would be awarded a free kick. Incredibly the free kick was given to Gillingham and referee Mr.Attwell showed Feeney a straight red card. Feeney was furious with the decision and even after crossing the pitch he was still venting his anger on the officials who were sixty yards from the "offence".

Despite going down to ten men it was still all Swansea with Gillingham defending deeply with two banks of four.

Despite dominating possession Swans were unable to find a final ball through the massed Gillingham defence and even shots from long range were being blocked by the hard working defenders. Half time came and despite dominating both territorially and in possession we had failed to force Royce into a decent save, and DeVries had been the busier of the two keepers.

Martinez now had a dilemma – should he bring on another striker in Duffy and go three at the back or bring on Robinson to stoke up the midfield? In the event he chose not to make the decision immediately but Rangel was pushed up to wide right midfield, Butler playing just behind Scotland with Anderson now on the left.

On fifty four minutes, Efe Sodje knocked the ball into his own net from a Paul Anderson corner and referee Mr Attwell was the only one in the ground to spot an infringement which denied Swans their well deserved equaliser.

Swansea had upped the pace considerably, but playing against a side with an extra man and with a referee whose decisions were becoming more and more bizarre it was always going to be an uphill struggle. On fifty eight minutes Andy Robinson replaced Dennis Lawrence, with Rangel dropping back into defence. Robbo went wide left and Anderson moved back to the right. Pressure from the Swans was by now relentless, with Anderson and Britton going close and Robinson having a shot that took a huge deflection off a defender and landed on the roof of the net only for Mr. Attwell to award a goalkick and send the blood pressure of every Swan's fan and player through the roof. The ref. was then pursued to the half way line by virtually every Swans player and the boos from the stands were deafening.

On resuming play, Anderson went to the ground in the box after a shoulder charge, but it appeared that Mr Attwell would not award us a decision unless it involved use of a lethal weapon.

On seventy two minutes Darryl Duffy replaced Thomas Butler. Six minutes later and Swansea finally got the breakthrough they so richly deserved. Pratley made a tremendous run down the right and his cross along the six yard line was fractionally missed by Duffy, but Anderson was racing in at the far post and hammered the ball home.

Surprisingly, after the goal we seemed to lose momentum, not helped by Gillingham committing foul after foul and time wasting whenever an opportunity presented itself.

With the four minutes added time almost up, Leon Britton had his legs taken from under him, and remarkably Mr Attwell saw it and awarded the penalty. Andy Robinson stepped up, but his shot lacked power and was poorly directed. Royce should have saved easily but instead he knocked the ball straight back to Robbo. With the keeper now on his knees Robbos task looked easy but he somehow managed to shoot directly back into the arms of Royce.

The final whistle sounded almost immediately and Robinson was first to leave the field and was in floods of tears.

It had been an absolutely superb second half display which warranted a victory. Sadly, tonight it just wasn't to be.

DeVries - 7 No chance with the goal and again made some great saves.

Rangel - 7 Asked to play a couple of different roles tonight and did both well.

Monk - 6 Solid in defence but distribution poor at times.

Lawrence - 6 Did a solid job, but made a few basic mistakes.

Painter - only on for seven minutes

Anderson - 8 Constant threat, and another well deserved goal.

Pratley - 7 Never stopped running and created the goal, but distribution not too
good tonight.

Britton - 7 Not surprisingly started slowly, but got better and better and covered
every blade of grass.

Butler - 7 Another who took on multiple roles tonight, played left, right and striker.

Scotland - 7 Isolated for periods but worked hard throughout.

Feeney - 6 Won't forget Mr Attwell in a hurry.

Subs

Austin - 7 Not the threat going forward that Painter is, but Mr Dependable with

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