|
| Swansea City 2 v 1 Cardiff City |
Report by Jeremy Kivell - mailing list
| I don't know what John Hollins said to his team at half time, but whatever
it was, it had the desired effect. After being totally outplayed for the first
45 minutes, Swansea showed greater character and determination after the break
and ultimately snatched victory in the last minute of normal time through
Matthew Bound.
Right from the start, it was obvious that Frank Burrows had got his game plan exactly right. Appleby and Price were man-marked out of the game, and Cardiff were allowed to dominate after going ahead with a goal by John Williams on 4 minutes. Williams took advantage of slack Swansea defending from a corner to hook the ball in from close range. |
Cardiff continued to look keener to win the ball throughout the first half. Swansea, deprived of width and creativity, relied on the long ball in the vague direction of Watkin and Aidan Clueless. The Cardiff keeper didn't even have to do any work until a Newhouse shot from the edge of the box midway through the half. By that time only some inept finishing and one superb reflex save from Freestone had prevented Cardiff from being 3 or 4 up. Swansea threatened once more before the break, but Cusack's header just went over the bar. Other than Freestone, the only Swansea player to come out of the first half with any credit was Martin Thomas, who at least showed some spirit.
Half time: Swansea 0, Cardiff 1, me - very worried.
It looked like more of the same right from the restart, as Cardiff again went forward, but a long range shot went wide. Gradually Swansea worked their way back into the game, showing far more tenacity and no longer allowing Cardiff the time and space to flatter themselves. Alsop replaced Newhouse after about 5 minutes of the half (to the biggest North Bank cheer of the day), and suddenly Swansea looked far more dangerous. Price and Appleby were still having a tough time of it, but Thomas and Watkin both worked hard in the middle to compensate.
Eventually, after dominating for 20 minutes, Swansea got themselves level when Alsop flicked on neatly for Martin Thomas to blast the ball past Hallworth in the Cardiff goal. Nobody deserved it more than Thomas, who, especially in the second half, gave probably his best performance since joining the club.
Only one team looked likely to win it now, as Swansea continued to monopolise possession without really creating many clear-cut chances from open play. Bound, Smith and Alsop were causing problems from set-pieces, though, and between them they looked the most likely source of a winner. And so it happened, with a minute of normal time left, a corner from the left was headed down in front of goal for Matthew Bound to drive the ball into the Cardiff net. Delirious scenes, both on and off the pitch, followed (including a slightly premature chant of 'we beat the scum 2-1') but the final minutes passed without any scares.
OK, so it wasn't pretty. Local derbies rarely are. But the strength of character that exists in the squad now is something equally as important to our chances as attractive football, and it was that mental toughness which carried us through today.
Are Cardiff as good as their first-half domination seemed to indicate? I think not. We stood back and made them look better than they really are (even John Williams looked like a player for God's sake!). Our second half performance more than dealt with their threat. If Cardiff can string together 7 or 8 unbeaten games and get to the top of the table, then I'm pretty sure we can do the same or better. A sustained level of performance on a par with the second half today will blow away most teams in this division. It's now up to Hollins and the squad to put the atrocious first half performance behind them and keep this momentum going.
So it was yesterday that Bound found himself a feted figure when he clubbed in a left-footer in the 89th minute to give Swansea victory over their fiercest rivals. Not only was the win much appreciated by Swansea - who rose four places in the process - it was totally unexpected. "We had been battered in the first half," admitted Bound, a central defender signed from Stockport last season.
"Swansea should have been dead and buried," added Cardiff's manager, Frank Burrows, who returned to the Vetch along with five former Swansea players.
One of them was John Williams, not the most popular man around his old club when he fired Cardiff into a fourth-minute lead after Roger Freestone had diverted Kevin Nugent's shot from a Richard Carpenter corner.
Nugent proceeded to skim the bar with a header and to bring an exceptional low save from Freestone after Jason Fowler and Craig Middleton had combined following another Carpenter corner.
"It was a fantastic save - it could have been the turning point," said Swansea manager John Hollins, who had switched things around at half-time, playing three at the back and introducing Julian Alsop for the ineffective Aiden Newhouse.
The game lacked subtlety but was high on commitment. No one battled harder than Alsop, whose flicked header enabled Martin Thomas to burst between two defenders for the 69th-minute equaliser.
When Alsop rose again for a Richard Appleby corner, the ball seemed to hang in the air before it dropped sweetly for Bound.
Click here to go back to start page if not using frames