Match Report

Swansea City 2 - 2 Barnsley - Match Report - Nigel Gigg, Pictures by Andrew Thomas

Swansea produced a dramatic comeback with two cracking goals from Jason Scotland to earn a point against lowly Barnsley.

Both sides came into tonight’s game with injury problems with Swans missing, Marcos Painter, Ferrie Bodde, Andrea Orlandi and Fede Bessone all injured together with Darren Pratley who was suspended after picking up five yellow cards.

Bessone’s injury on Saturday meant Stephen O’Halloran came in for his League debut.

Side- de Vries, Rangel, Monk, Williams, O’Halloran, Gower, Britton, Jones, Gomez, Butler, Scotland. Subs- Konstantopoulos, Tate, Allen, Pintado, Brandy.

There was little atmosphere early on with a crowd of under 12,000 and a meagre following from Barnsley of around 100.

The games first chance fell to the Swans with Barnsley’s defence failing to clear a corner. The chance fell to Leon Britton but his goal bound effort struck the head of a Barnsley defender and fell perfectly for Owain Tudur Jones but he totally lacked composure and smashed the ball way over the bar from 15 yards.

Barnsley looked to have come for a draw and played with Jamie Cureton as a lone striker with little support from midfield early on.

On 12 minutes Cureton received the ball and held off Swans defenders until Jamal Campbell-Ryce arrived. He laid the ball perfectly into the path of Miguel Mostto who bent a right foot shot that looked destined for the top corner only for Dorus de Vries to pull off a spectacular save.

Swans responded with a Mark Gower shot that he dragged wide of the post after an excellent one two with Jason Scotland. Soon after Gower was signalling to the bench
that he needed to come off.

Roberto Martinez had instructed Gorka Pintado to get ready to come on and then seemed to change his mind calling Joe Allen to get ready before finally plumping for Pintado. This meant a change of formation to 4-4-2 with Jordi Gomez going wide right.

The Swans had looked settled before the substitution and lost their way further after it. The wide players lacked support and seemed unwilling to take on defenders. The centre of midfield just wasn’t functioning. Leon Britton looked out of sorts playing the deep role in front of the back four and Owain Tudur Jones looked nervous and uncomfortable on the ball but the constant harping from the Swans fans to virtually every touch he had certainly wouldn’t have helped.

Leon Britton picked up his fifth booking of the season after bringing down Campbell-Ryce on the edge of the box. Hugo Colace’s free kick was brilliantly saved by Dorus de Vries.

Barnsley ended the first half looking the better side and were only denied a first half lead by Dorus de Vries.

You would imagine there were some harsh words at half time in the Swans dressing room but they had little effect as Barnsley started the second half the stronger.

Just three minutes into the half and Campbell-Ryce showed the Swans defence a clean pair of heels and bore down on goal. He was only denied by yet another good save by Dorus de Vries but the Dutchman could do nothing to deny Jonathan Macken following up to open the scoring.

Swans continued to look lethargic and lacking ideas going forward. Just four minutes after going behind Barnsley extended the lead.

Stephen O’Halloran made a dreadful error and Ashley Williams had to come to the rescue at the expense of a corner. Referee Mr Horwood blew his whistle and most were expecting a Swans free kick. There seemed no appeals from the Barnsley players and they and the Swans players looked equally amazed to see Mr Horwood pointing to the penalty spot. Apparently, he had seen Ashley Williams handle the ball even if nobody else in the ground spotted it.

Before the penalty was taken a Barnsley player went down as if he’d been hit by a truck. A melee ensued and after order was restored Garry Monk was yellow carded. If Garry Monk had flattened the Barnsley player why on earth was he shown only yellow? Interesting that Mr Horwood is being fast tracked through the Divisions. No doubt his inspiration is a certain Mr Attwell.

It was no surprise that Jamal Campbell- Ryce sent Dorus de Vries the wrong way from the penalty spot.

Swans needed something to kick start them but few would have predicted that Joe Allen would be the inspiration. He replaced a totally out of sorts Owain Tudur Jones just before the hour mark.

It didn’t take long for Joe Allen to work his magic. He linked with Leon Britton just outside the Barnsley area. Leon Britton fed the ball to Jason Scotland who drew a clumsy challenge from his marker before firing the ball past Heinz Muller in the Barnsley goal.

The goal brought a total transformation to the game. Up to that point several Swans players including O’Halloran, Rangel, Butler, Gomez and Scotland had all had poor games. Suddenly they all looked their old selves. Self belief came flooding back and passes suddenly starting finding their men.

For the remaining 24 minutes it was like a scene from the Alamo. Tom Butler and Stephen O’Halloran were a constant threat down the left as were Jordi Gomez and Angel Rangel down the right and Joe Allen seemed to win every loose ball in the midfield.

There were numerous changes created but a combination of poor finishing and bad luck denied the Swans.

With the game going into the last of four minutes of injury time Jason Scotland picked the ball up on the edge of the area. He twisted, turned and fired a low daisy cutter through a sea of players into the corner of the net.

Swans were out of jail but there is no hiding place. This was two points lost and the performance in the first 65 minutes was as poor as we have seen under Roberto Martinez.

Side-

De Vries 7 – A couple of top class saves.

Rangel 6- Out of sorts for an hour.
Williams 7 – Played like Beckenbaur for the last 30 minutes.
Monk 7 – Yellow card remains a mystery.
O’Halloran 6 – For an hour I thought he’d be better off going back to Villa but was excellent in the last 30 minutes.

Gower 5- Looked jaded and almost glad to have picked up a twinge.
Britton 6 – Sat much deeper than usual and didn’t have as much influence as usual.
Jones 4 – May well find himself back on the bench now.
Gomez 5 – Far too many passes went astray tonight.
Butler 6 – Awful in the first hour. Came to life after our first goal.

Scotland 7 – Showed what he’s capable of in the last half hour.

Subs –

Pintado 5 – Spurned several chances but his introduction at least created more space for Jason Scotland.
Allen 8 – Inspired. First to just about every loose ball.
Brandy – Only on 3 or 4 minutes.

Swansea City 2 - 2 Barnsley - Match Report - Soccernet.com, Pictures by Andrew Thomas

An injury-time equaliser from Jason Scotland earned Swansea a 2-2 draw against Barnsley after it had looked like a poor start to the second half was going to condemn them to defeat. The Trinidad and Tobago striker was on hand to drive home his second goal of the game and his seventh of the season with 94 minutes on the clock, rescuing a draw for his side.

Jon Macken's strike and a penalty from Jamal Campbell-Ryce had catapulted Barnsley into a two-goal lead inside the first eight minutes of the second period, before Scotland reduced the deficit midway through the half.

Despite the lateness of the goal, it was no more than Roberto Martinez`s side deserved after they found themselves denied on numerous occasions by the brilliance of Barnsley keeper Heinz Muller who displayed the same form that saw him linked with a move to Arsenal last season.

In an entertaining first half, both sides forged a number of opportunities but found the respective keepers in fine form.

Swansea were left particularly frustrated, as Barnsley`s German stopper Muller produced a string of stunning saves, most notably a fine double-stop from Thomas Butler and Gorka Pintado.

The Swans - missing key midfielder Darren Pratley through suspension - started brightly and saw Owain Tudur-Jones waste a fine early chance when he blazed over after Dennis Souza had blocked Butler`s shot.

Barnsley looked lively themselves, though, and could have taken the lead themselves when Miguel Mostto forced a fine one-handed save from Dorus De Vries with a curling effort.

Despite this, Swansea looked the most potent side, with Mark Gower sliding an effort wide following a neat flick from Scotland.

Barnsley remained a threat too and Hugo Colace drew another smart save from De Vries with a free-kick, although Swansea ended the half as they started, with Jordi Gomez and Pintado drilling wide, while Muller did outstandingly well to deny Butler from close-range and Pintado on the rebound.

The fortunes of the two sides switched dramatically after the break, though, and the visitors found themselves two goals ahead within the first eight minutes of the half.

The opener came on the counter-attack, as Campbell-Ryce burst clear and drilled an effort that De Vries could only parry, leaving Macken with the simplest of tasks to sweep home a 48th minute opener.

Then, with Swansea reeling, Barnsley dealt them a further blow, adding a second five minutes later as Campbell-Ryce slotted home from the spot after Williams blocked his corner with his hand.

Swansea`s response was surprisingly mute and Barnsley could have gone even further in front, with Campbell-Ryce going close with an effort from the edge of the box.

The home side did manage to haul themselves back into the game with 66 minutes gone, and there was little Barnsley could do to stop it, as Scotland picked up Joe Allen`s pass and rifled a fine 25-yard strike past Muller for his sixth goal of the season.

Buoyed by the goal, Swansea began to come on strong and Muller was again at his best denying Gomez and Butler in quick succession, while Allen and Pintado also drilled efforts wide.

Stephen Foster then blocked a Scotland shot as Swansea set up camp in Barnsley`s half, yet when it looked as though Simon Davey`s men had defended well enough to hold on, Scotland struck again from just inside the area.

Swansea: De Vries, Williams, Monk, Rangel, O'Halloran, Britton (Brandy 90), Gower (Pintado 32), Gomez, Tudur-Jones (Allen 58), Butler, Scotland.
Subs Not Used: Konstantopoulos, Tate.

Booked: Rangel, Britton, Monk.

Goals: Scotland 66, 90.

Barnsley: Muller, Van Homoet, Foster, Guedes, Hassell, Campbell-Ryce, Colace, El Haimour, Mostto, Macken, Cureton (Odejayi 69).
Subs Not Used: Steele, Rigters, Coulson, Butterfield.

Booked: Hassell.

Goals: Macken 49, Campbell-Ryce 56 pen.

Att: 11,442

Ref: Graham Horwood (Bedfordshire).