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| Swansea 0 v 1 Derby County |
by Joe Lovejoy - Sunday Times
IT HAD all the makings: driving rain, a heavy pitch and underdogs full of running, but Derby were not prepared to play the part of sacrificial Rams, and matched their Third Division opponents tackle for tackle to ensure that there were no more upsets on the ground where West Ham had come a cropper 10 days earlier. Swansea held the Premiership side for 81 minutes, and took play to them for most of a thud-and-blunder slog in the mud, but they were undone at the death by a close-range header from substitute Kevin Harper. Harper, a £300,000 signing from Hibernian last year, made routine work of dispatching Horacio Carbonari's left-wing cross, and the Swans' FA Cup odyssey, which took them past Milwall and Stoke City, as well as West Ham, ended in the bog.
To do them proper credit, Derby played it just right, soaking up sporadic pressure when the force was with the would-be giantkillers in the first half, then coming on strong in the second as Swansea tired. The Welsh team put in a desperate late flurry, but Derby matched them for resolution throughout, and deserve their place in the last 16.
Their manager, Jim Smith, who could afford to be magnanimous, said: "I must admit I didn't think anybody was going to score, and I do feel a bit sorry for John Hollins."
Hollins, reviving his managerial career in south Wales after bitter experiences at Chelsea and Queen's Park Rangers, confessed to feeling "choked". He explained: "We were in a dream - a super dream - while it lasted, but now it's back to reality, and improving our position in the League. We only allowed them one real chance, but that's all a Premiership side needs."
Manchester United v Liverpool this afternoon was always going to be The Big One but, with due respect to Fulham, this looked like the tie of the round in terms of the romance of the Cup. David against Goliath, and all that.
In seeing off West Ham in the third round, Swansea became the first Third Divison team to beat Premiership opposition. Could lightning strike twice at the Vetch? It never really looked like happening. It was never going to strike from the same direction. Martin Thomas, whose goal put out West Ham, was absent, injured.
Nevertheless, the Swansea "Jacks", as the supporters style themselves, were up for it, the full-house atmosphere in this tight little ground reminiscent of the heady days when John Toshack propelled a run-down Fourth Divison club to the top of the old First in four barnstorming seasons.
Much of the pre-match coverage seemed to focus on a daft story concerning the Swansea mascot and an officious referee, which was a pity in that it did scant justice to the Welsh club's success in playing West Ham twice and coming out on top in a pulsating replay.
Schoolboys played a match on the pitch immediately before the kick-off which, on a wet and windy day, did nothing for the surface. The cup may be a great leveller, but 14 charging kids were not, and Derby must have thought they were back at the old Baseball Ground.
Swansea set about their work with an entirely predictable approach, chasing everything, harrying the opposition at every turn and closing down with maniacal enthusiasm.
This spirit and never-say-die determination gave them much the better of a largely undistinguished first half, in which they made promising progress down the right through Steve Jones, Stuart Roberts and Steve Watkin, but could not produce a goal attempt of real consequence.
Julian Alsop, Swansea's towering totem of a centre-forward, beat Derby goalkeeper Mart Poom after half an hour, but he was booked for doing so, having run on in defiance of an offside flag and the whistle.
Having opted for containment in the first half, Derby set about the second with a more adventurous approach, and the tie improved immensely as a result. Harper, on for Baiano, set his sights with a 20-yarder, comfortably saved, then had another shot from distance tipped over.
Swansea were closer when Poom saw Nick Cusack's low drive from the edge of the penalty area late, through a ruck of bodies, and had to improvise a save with his feet. The resulting rebound only narrowly evaded the incoming Jon Coates, who would have had a simple tap in.
Watkin should have done better with a free header which he could only divert wide, and we were all starting to look up the replay date when Harper settled it with nine minutes left.
Carbonari, the Argentinian, deserved the lion's share of the credit, going past two defenders on the left before arcing over a cross which found the matchwinner at nodding range, three yards out.
Swansea stamped hard on the gas pedal, and Watkin and Jones both threatened equality in a frenetic finale, but Poom was too good for them, and Hollins and his players are left to concentrate on repairing their form in the Third Division, where they were beaten 4-0 by Exeter last time out.
Swansea City: Freestone, Jones, Howard, Cusack, O'Leary, Bound, Coates (Appleby 68min), Lacey, Alsop, Watkin, Roberts.
Derby County: Poom, Carbonari, Schnoor, Dorigo, Bohinen (Kozluk 86min), Laursen, Prior, Carsley, Sturridge, Burton (Harper 46min), Baiano (Elliott 62min) Booked: Watkin (6min), Schnoor (20min), Alsop (30min), Cusack (52min), Sturridge (90min)
Scorer: Harper 81.
Referee: G Barber (Pyrford). Attendance: 11,383
SWANSEA'S fiery football that had engulfed West Ham in the third round of the FA Cup blew hot and strong without quite causing the same damage yesterday in the wet and wild arena that was the Vetch Field. Derby County felt the scorch marks from the Third Division side, yet they escaped with an undeserved victory, earned by a header from the substitute striker Kevin Harper nine minutes from the end.
Harper, brought on for the injured Deon Burton just before half-time, was one of the few visiting players to do anything for their reputation on a day that was a real throwback. Signed this season from Hibernian, he must have enjoyed - or endured - ties like this back in Scotland, but too many of his highly paid colleagues from abroad did not seem to have grasped the essential requirements for an FA Cup match away to a team from three divisions lower down.
As Swansea's strapping striker Julian Alsop had put it before the start: "When their foreign players see the pitch, cramped changing rooms and our crowd, they'll be shocked." After Pride Park, Old Trafford, Highbury and the rest, a venue like the Vetch is even more of a culture shock these days to a pampered elite. After the West Ham tie, a London supporter had written to Swansea saying the crowd was the loudest he had ever heard, and the North Bank alongside one side of the pitch, given so little to shout about since topping the old First Division 17 years ago, was again heaving, swaying and, of course, singing fit to bust. Then there was Cyril the Swan, the nine-foot tall mascot, who has become a cult figure since his introduction last year and at present faces a disrepute charge from the Football Association (you couldn't make it up).
A pitch that had not been dry enough to stage the previous week's scheduled League game was not helped yesterday by a five-a-side youth game played before the main attraction. There was method in the apparent madness, however, for the home side were quite happy for their visitors' superior skills to be neutralised by a pudding of a surface.
That was the way of it from the start, with wind and driving rain making life even more difficult for Derby to impose themselves. Still missing Igor Stimac, Stefano Eranio and Paulo Wanchope, they gave Roger Freestone barely a couple of shots to save all afternoon and took 20 minutes to launch an attack of substance.
By that time Mart Poom in goal had suffered some uncomfortable moments, and a painful one early on as the midfielder Steve Watkin, pushing the ball too far ahead on a break, lost it to the goalkeeper and then slid into him.
A scuffle broke out as Derby players piled in, but at the end of it, Watkin was the only man booked. The incident may have unsettled Poom, who lost possession in the next attack and was fortunate that Spencer Prior hacked clear. Stuart Roberts, the 18-year-old who had left West Ham's Julian Dicks dizzy, and had a particularly good first half yesterday, caused the threat on that occasion and became an important part of Swansea's attacking strategy again.
Two good efforts either side of half-time by their captain Nick Cusack were the closest they came to a goal. In the 24th minute, Poom had to readjust and drop on the ball at the last moment as Cusack sent a low free-kick through the wall following Prior's push on Alsop. Seven minutes into the second half, Cusack was almost the hero again again, striking his shot equally well from outside the penalty area and seeing Poom save with his legs.
Harper brought a little more life to the Derby attack, forcing Freestone to two saves after what was presumably a lively pep talk from the visitors' manager, Jim Smith. The latter was still not happy and withdrew the ineffectual Francesco Baiano long before the end, sending on another defender in Steve Elliott.
Smith must have been more relieved than anyone nine minutes from the end, when Harper was left unmarked at the far post to head in a well-placed chip from the Argentinian Horacio Carbonari.
"I must admit I didn't think anybody was going to score and I do feel a bit sorry for John Hollins and Swansea," Smith said. Hollins was unusually downbeat as he said: "I'm really choked. We only really gave them one chance, but that's all a Premiership side needs.''