Player Profiles

The past three months have seen Roberto Martinez making seamless progress in establishing a squad to achieve the goal of promotion to the Championship. After an encouraging pre season the first real test arrived today with a difficult trip to another one of the promotion favourites, Oldham.

There were no real surprises in the side with Andy Robinson preferred to Paul Anderson on the left. If there was a surprise it was the omission of Steve Watt from the 16.



Oldham included Welsh International Mark Crossley in goal and had a strong looking front line with ex Cardiff Michael Ricketts and another Welsh International in Craig Davies.

Side- DeVries, Rangel, Lawrence, Tate, Painter, Britton, Pratley, Bodde, Robinson, Duffy, Scotland. Subs- Hawthorn, Austin, O'Leary, Anderson, Bauza.

The game had a dramatic start with Oldham awarded a controversial penalty inside 30 seconds. Alan Tate and Craig Davies chased a ball inside the box with the ball going away from goal. There was some pushing and shoving from both and Davies would have earned 5.9 for his dive prompting Mr Hall to award a penalty.

The penalty award was under the noses of the 1645 travelling Swans and Mr Hall's decision bought a poor reaction from a handful with several bottles thrown onto the pitch.

Michael Ricketts placed his penalty just inside the post to give De Vries no chance.

The goal sparked some unpleasant scenes behind the Swans goal with twenty or so Swans 'fans' making toward the corner of the terrace and threatening to get onto the pitch and toward the nearest Oldham fans. Thankfully, prompt action form the handful of police in the ground at this stage prevented any serious trouble.



Back on the pitch, Swans responded well to the early set back and were totally dominating possession. On 8 minutes Andy Robinson was desperately unlucky with a 20 yard shot that came back off the inside of the post. Robbo's unlucky knack of hitting the woodwork seems to be continuing. Last season he hit the woodwork more than any other player in League division One.

Swans had a clear grip on midfield with Bodde and Pratley providing a super platform for Swans to launch attacks. Andy Robinson was proving a real threat down the right but Leon Britton was having a much tougher time on the right against Chris Taylor.

In defence Angel Rangel was pushing forward and this was leaving Alan Tate exposed against Craig Davies and too often Davies was coming out on top.

On 25 minutes, De Vries had to be quick off his line to deny Davies after Tate had been left for dead.

Five minutes later and Davies again caused us problems, this time leaving Rangel in his wake. He rounded De Vries but Lawrence was able to get his foot in to clear.

Swans continued to have the better of the possession, however, and before half time Andy Robinson and Jason Scotland went close.

Roberto Martinez must have thought of replacing Leon Britton at half time with Paul Anderson but decided to keep faith with his starting line up. His faith looked to have been rewarded as Swans tore into a back pedalling Oldham.

Swans were attacking in waves and an equaliser looked certain. Angel Rangel bought a full length save from Crossley and Ferrie Bodde went close.



The deserved equaliser came on 54 minutes. Angel Rangel did some terrific work down the right and his low cross was just behind the front two. Jason Scotland controlled the ball with his back to goal. He dragged the ball into a shooting position before being pulled back by the defender. Rather than going down for the penalty, that I am not sure Mr Hall would have given, Trunds, sorry Scotland picked his shot perfectly to send the travelling Swans fans behind the goal into raptures.

The game now had quite an edge to it with Oldham in particular being very physical to try to break up Swans' passing game. Andy Robinson was very lucky not to be shown the red card for a rash challenge after having already picked up a yellow card. Ferrie Bodde also received the first of what will undoubtedly be a hatful of yellow cards in his Swansea career.

On 63 minutes there were two Oldham substitutions and Paul Anderson replaced Andy Robinson. The changes seemed to work better for Oldham with the Swans stranglehold being broken for a time.

With ten minutes left Kris O'Leary replaced Darren Pratley.



Paul Anderson had taken some time to get into the game but his pace was starting to cause Oldham problems. Mark Allot was left for dead by Anderson and lashed out to bring down the speedy winger. Mr Hall it would seem had little choice but to show Allot a red card having already shown him the yellow. Unbelievably he decided a stern lecture was sufficient for what was probably the worst challenge of the day.

Swans looked the more likely scorers with Daryl Duffy and Kris O'Leary going very close.

With the game going into injury time an Oldham clearance went straight to Alan Tate ten yards inside the Swans ea half and with no Oldham player within ten yards of him. The ball did bounce up and Alan Tate definitely leant into the ball with his upper arm to give away a needless free kick. It seemed only to relieve pressure on the Oldham goal. However, their free kick went wide right and Deane Smalleys cross evaded everyone in the middle and reached the unmarked Craig Davies at the far post. He stooped to head home and gave Oldham an undeserved win.



There was no way back for Swans and all their good work was to count for nothing.

With many new players arriving in recent months and talk of John Hartson joining, Roberto Martinez must realise a big strong solid centre half must still be our number one target.

Ratings-

De Vries 7 - Good handling. Likes to get the ball out quickly. Something we haven't seen from a Swansea keeper in years.

Rangel 7 - Excellent going forward but must stay closer to the centre half when the opposition are attacking.
Lawrence 7 - Did well against an experienced opponent in Ricketts.
Tate 5- Given a real tough time by Davies.
Painter 7 - One moment of madness in the second half when he looked to charge the ball down with his hand. Thankfully he missed. That apart did well defending and going forward.

Britton 6 - A shadow of himself today.
Pratley 8 - Never stooped running.
Bodde 8 - Great distribution and imposed himself on the game.
Robinson 7 - Always a threat and unlucky not to score.

Duffy 7 - Decent game but chances didn't fall his way.
Scotland 8 - Some mesmeric touches and took goal with aplomb.

Subs -

Anderson 6 - Great pace but lacked composure with final ball.
O'Leary 7 - Did well in cameo for last 10 minutes.


Oldham 2 Swansea City 1 - Peter and Bethan Charles

It will hopefully not have come as a surprise - but Oldham did not play like Levante. Rather than stroking the ball around and giving us space, they were in our faces, pressing our midfield and finding any means, fair or foul, to disrupt our passing game. In the end we overcame this, and most observers (including several Oldham fans) agreed that we look capable of outplaying most teams in the division. The thing is, can we out-fight them too? Time will tell. But we should take a lot of encouragement from this performance. The twist at the end was scarcely deserved by Oldham, and nothing short of a travesty for us.

The starting line up was the team that began the friendly last week, with De-Vries in goal, Painter and Rangel at left and right full back respectively, and Britton (right) Pratley, Bodde and Robinson (left) strung across the midfield. Scotland partnered Duffy up front. And the game could not have got off to a worse start for us. The first of many long balls searching for Craig Davies saw the Oldham man canter into our area, only to be bizarrely impeded by a rather lethargic Alan Tate. It seemed harsh at the time but, on reflection, the decision was probably right - Tate was nowhere near the ball and seemed intent only on blocking Davies' run. Ricketts despatched the penalty with DeVries rooted (a la Gueret) to the spot.

So a nightmare start for our renaissance. But we responded well - On 7 minutes we forced a corner which was cleared to Robinson, who fired well over. Then a sustained spell of pressure, largely crafted by the strong hold up play of Scotland, saw us create two chances. Robinson was unlucky to see his low strike come back of the inside of the post, and then a minute later he rather stupidly palmed the ball over the line for a disallowed "goal" earning himself a booking in the process. Shortly afterwards the home side reminded themselves of their presence as Davies again struck a low cross towards our goal, which evaded both defence and attack.

There followed a spell of constant fouling from the home team as they sought to impose their physical presence on us; they also did all they could to disrupt our pattern by constantly preventing the quick-taking of free kicks. Eventually, the somewhat bemused referee booked one of them, but then evened things up by booking Bodde for a rather late lunge. There continued to be half chances at both ends. Robinson hit a speculative free kick well over the bar, but also had a low shot smartly saved by Crossley. Davies, the home side's only threat, nearly caught out DeVries from another long ball, and late in the half brought a good save from our keeper. The half closed with the game never having quite got into top gear, but with plenty of optimism among the Swans fans - we had certainly been trying to play swift and incisive passing football, but it was not quite coming off. Would the second half see an improvement?

Undoubtedly it did - for the first 20 minutes or so we played with a real zest and competitive edge which had been missing from the first half. In particular, the Pratley - Bodde partnership moved up a gear, with the Dutchman in particular orchestrating some fluent passing moves. On 50 minutes we thought we had levelled it with Rangel fired in a searing low drive, only to see Crossley tip it brilliantly round the post. But we were not long denied. A good passing move eventually saw Scotland wriggle past two defenders before guiding an excellent low shot into the corner. Cue jubilation amongst the 2000 or so Jacks whose vocal support had been excellent throughout.

We continued to dominate the game and it began to look there for the taking, although Robinson nearly committed a fatal error when the referee allowed him to get away with a bookable challenge, when he could easily have shown a red. On 65 minutes Anderson replaced the tiring Robinson, and it really looked like we were going for the jugular. But this prompted something of a response from the home side, who were clearly not done yet. Like a boxer coming back from the ropes they mounted a series of attacks, forcing corners and putting our defence under some pressure. One shot was deflected wide, and another fierce volley was excellently saved by DeVries. Having survived this scare, the Swans roused themselves for another onslaught. Anderson looked lively and drew two vicious fouls from desperate Oldham players - bizarrely, neither of which was punished. Pratley then produced an excellent surging run, but his low shot went well wide. Shortly afterwards, we produced an excellent flowing move which led th ball eventually finding Duffy, who battled hard to get in a shot which was palmed away at close range by Crossley.

Oldham then responded with some pressure, and in order to stiffen things up, O'Leary replaced the flagging Pratley. We continued to press forward, and four more chances followed. Firstly, a Bodde free kick was saved by Crossley, then O'Leary headed just wide from a corner, and then a great cross by Anderson was nearly turned home at the near post by Duffy. Finally, Scotland broke free on the right and hit another low drive which this time went wide of the post. On 90 minutes we were once again attacking when we lost possession in the Oldham box. A long clearance caught out Tate who, strangely, handled the ball some forty yards from goal. Oldham took a leaf out of our book, took free kick quickly, and from a low cross, Davies turned the ball home smartly. We launched one more desperate attack, but it was too late. The players looked devastated and rightly so, but they left the field to the ringing sound of the Jacks chanting for the team. A great effort from the travelling fans recognising a noble effrt from the team.

Player ratings:

DeVries - 8 Some great saves and pretty solid all round
Painter - 7 A tidy all round performance
Rangel - 8 Composed and dangerous coming forward
Lawrence - 7 Imposing in defence.
Tate - 5 Two key errors cost us the game, and lack of stature at centre half left us exposed on occasion.
Britton - 6 Had his threatening moments, but often wandered inside and failed to produce the killer ball or cross (now, if Robinson did that, he would get pilloried.Hmmm)
Robinson - 6 Some good attacking moments, but his temperament nearly let him down. Flagged after an hour.
Pratley - 7 Battled hard and effective going forward in second half.
Bodde - 8 An excellent play-making midfield performance
Duffy - 6 Some clever movement but didn't really make much of an impression
Scotland - 8 (MOM) terrific on the ball and a constant threat.
Anderson - 6 Some speedy running, but too often lost composure at the key moment.
O'Leary - 7 Not on for long, but injected some momentum when we needed it.

All in all we created enough chances to have one the game comfortably, and in the second half our fluent passing style was there to be admired. We should all take plenty of encouragement from this. We poke to several Oldham fans on the way out: the comment of one ("You f******g battered us!") speaks volumes. We need to remember that the ball wont win itself, and it wont walk itself into the net, but at this stage, the season still looks very promising indeed.

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.