Match report

Swansea City 1 v 1 Bristol City

Report by Keith Violet - Mail on Sunday

Swansea City's man of the moment, Steve Torpey, popped up for his sixth goal in nine matches and earned a replay at Ashton Gate on Tuesday week

Torpey took on the Bristol defence almost single-handedly at times, twice seeing his first efforts rebound from the crossbar, and earned fulsome praise, afterwards from player-manager Jan Molby.

"On this sort of form I wouldn't swap him for any striker in the lower divisions," said the Dane. "He came up against a good, experienced defence today and they couldn't handle him. It's all Torpey these days!"

The Londoner's goal cancelled out a thundering shot by veteran midfielder Martin Kuhl in the final minute of the first half.

Last season Kuhl scored the only goal in Brlstol's Boxing Day League victory over the Swans. Last month he was sent off in a reserve match at The Vetch Field. This time he made his mark by pouncing on a loose ball 30 yards from goal and firing a right-footed drive past Roger Freestone into the top corner.

Freestone had a mixed afternoon. 0n the plus side were fine saves to foll Paul Agostino and hot shot Shaun Goater. But there were a couple of moments of madness as well.

First he apparently thought he was beyond his penalty area and tried an acrobatic clearance which skewed up over his head, but thankfully wide of the net. Then, with ample time to deal with a back pass, he tried to dribble past Goater, only to find the ball cannoning off the Bermudan's knee and bouncing towards the unguarded goal. Only the quick reaction of the alert Steve Jones, racing back to hook it clear, rescued the goalkeeper from embarrassment.

Swansea deserved a little good fortune, however, for fate favoured the visitors in the early stages.

First Torpey burst through to reach a Jones pass despite the clutching hands of Wales Under- 21 cap, Rob Edwards, and, with the referee playing advantage, fired a cracking shot which struck the underside of the bar and spun out off the goal-line.

Then the big Londoner climbed to reach a Mark Clode free-klck, only to see his header palmed on to the woodwork by visiting keeper Stuart Naylor.

Swansea missed the steadying influence of Molby in midfield and more particularly, Keith Walker at the back, where Christian Edwards - one of the Wales Under-21 heroes in Holland last weekend - struggled to hold the dangerous Goater.

But at least Vetch fans had their first look at Joao Moreira, the Portguese fullback making his first start in a Welsh career delayed by a pre-season injury.

"Joao did well," said Molby. "After all this time, the supporters were impatient to see him, so I'm glad he put on a good show."

Certainly the former Benfica player's strong runs down the left flank brought frequent applause from the season's highest 5,629 crowd, and he added a new threat to the Swans' armoury.

Less happy was Kwame Ampadu, in his first outing for several weeks. Booked before half-time for a foul on Bristol skipper Gary Owers, he was shown a second yellow card for bringing down Ossie striker Agostino, leaving the Swans to survive the final nine minutes with 10 men.

"It made things difficult for us," admitted Molby. "But I've no complaints about the sending-off. It was a typical cup game with both sides going flat out in a good atmosphere, and at the end of it, we are still in the FA Cup."

Team: Freestone, Clode, Edwards, Jones, Moreira, Penney, Jenkins, Ampadu, Caotes, Torpey, Brown. Subs: O'Leary (81) for Brown, King (90) for Coates, Thomas.