1. Freestone
2. Jones S
3. Howard
4. Bound
5. Smith
6. Cusack
7. Thomas @
8. Alsop
9. Watkin
10. Coates
11. Price #

    ---

12. Jones J
13. Jenkins @ (46)
14. Roberts
15. O'Leary # (84)
16. Boyd

 Barnet

1. Harrison
2. Stockley #
3. Sawyers @
4. Heald
5. Goodhind
6. Arber
7. Toms *
8. Doolan
9. Currie
10. McGleish
11. Omoyimni

    ---

12. Ansell # (85)
13. Brown @ (60)
14. Searle * (88)
15. Naisbitt
16. Davidson

Good team performance today in a game where we never looked like losing. We should have won by at least another two goals. On todays performance Barnet will slip out of the play-off places. We need to strengthen midfield, and could look to their No 8 who controlled the midfield today.

Their keeper Harrison is classed as the best in this division, but not a patch on our Rog. Anyway back to the game after they had most of the first ten minutes, we came into the game strongly with Julian being caught offside twice when on a 1 to 1 with the keeper but even before the whistle he never threatened to score.

The goal itself was a good header by Watkin with Thomas going for the same ball and getting a head injury for his trouble, resulting in him not coming out for the second half being replaces by Jenkins. Watkin's obvious delight in scoring was plain to see as he took the applause from the Swans fans. The first half ended with us totally in control. The first twenty minutes of the second half was fairly even, with a couple of scares, one of which seemed to be in slow motion as the defence went to sleep with Rog having to save on the post giving away a corner.

Barnet had a half hearted call for a penalty turned down as the player on loan from West Ham ( Omni........??? who caused the Villa game to be replayed) went down when I think it was S or B sneezed on him. No pen and no booking for an obvious dive. The last 15mins or so saw us yet again defend to deeply with O'Leary coming on for the injured Price, who limped off. Final thoughts. We should have won more convincingly, but not a bad performance and another 3 points. Estimate about 750 fans there, and a group from Belgium(whats the story behind it) . Also did a coach turn up after about 20mins, and were they inside for the goal.. My comments on the players who have been in the news lately.

Coates, does need a rest as his confidence seems to have gone, keeps trying but is very predictable and slow when attacking. Cusack, not one of his best fans but did organise and put in some timely challenges, so deserves his place at the moment. Alsop, have always defended him as he gives 100% and if played to properly does give options, but not a full game. I would have taken him off midway through the second half and replaced him by Boyd as we needed more speed up front while playing on the break. Howard, did not have a good game and was struggling as the ball was played in the air, not his strongest point. The other results were in our favour, but even though we never looked like dropping the three points, why oh why do we have to suffer the agonising last minutes, instead of enjoying them.

Much to be admired today in an impressive all round Swans performance, which improves our promotion standing and hopefully dispels any suggestion that our season was on the rocks.

After several weeks of experimenting with the narrow 4-3-3 formation (which so many fans had called for), it was a return today to a more traditional 4-4-2, with Coates and a rejuvenated Price providing the width on the left and right respectively. Cusack and Thomas made up the central midfield pairing, with Watkin and Alsop up front. But it was good to see our defensive formation of Howard, Bound, Smith and Jones intact again, and seemingly set to further consolidate our status as the meanest defence in Britain.

Immediately the extra width began to give us an advantage over a surprisingly hesitant Barnet side. Price looked sprightly down the right, but it was the creative interplay on the left between Coates and Watkin that created most early strife for the home side, and and in the first minutes Coates nearly broke clear to threaten the Barnet goal. Our first clear cut chance came on 5 minutes when Price cut in from the right and hit a rather scuffed shot which Harrison saved easily. A minute later a spell of Swansea pressure led to a penalty area scramble which almost saw the ball break to Watkin for a strike. After 10 minutes, a terrific break from midfield by the combative Martin Thomas concluded with a slide rule pass into the path of Price, who hesitated before shooting and allowed Harrison to make a save. It continued to be all Swansea, and some neat interplay on the left, mainly featuring Coates, led to a shot from Cusack which went well wide. A couple of minutes later some excellent approach play, again on the left, led to a break for Alsop in the area, but he was ruled offside.

We continued to dominate the early stages, and despite some possession, the home side failed to create any scoring chances. The Swans speedy and angular running from midfield meant that we continually broke from defence with menace, and this nearly created a goal when a Aslop created panic in the defence and Price shot over. A superb through ball from Coates to Thomas nearly created a goal in the 23rd minute, but Thomas' neat finish was also ruled out for offside.

But we didn't have to wait long for the lead. On the 26th minute a mis-hit pass from midfield found its way to Price, who swung across a terrific cross from the right, which three Swans players attacked in the air, the winner being Watkin, who headed home powerfully. The lead was no less than our enterprising and confident play had deserved, and the 800 or so Swans fans behind the goal went wild. We then looked to hammer home our advantage and continued to pour forward, but it was Barnet who then had their only promising moment of the first half, when a cross from the impressive Darren Currie was spilled by Freestone under pressure, but Omiyimni failed to convert. The Swans responded well and in the 44th minute Alsop broke superbly from midfield and laid the ball of to Price who hit a testing low shot which Harrison saved well with his legs, preventing "game over" by half time. Barnet concluded the half with a speculative long range effort from Omiyimni which went well over, and summed up their rather pitiful efforts in a first half in which the Swans were completely in control.

Predictably, Barnet looked a different outfit at the start of the second, and an early cross from their left was cleared by Smith under severe pressure - the follow up falling to McGleish whose header was well saved by Freestone. Minutes later a good strike from defender Arber was deflected for a corner. a long range effort from Doolan easily saved, and McGleish should have done better with a back post header from another Currie cross. Our only response during this period was a header from Watkin which went well wide and we began to wonder whether we might regret not having pressed home our first half advantage.

But the Swans responded well. Jenkins, who replaced the injured Thomas at half time, began to assert himself, and we gradually began to wrestle back the midfield. On 66 minutes a great passing move through the midfield culminated in a pass from Jenkins to price whose shot was well saved again by Harrison. Shortly after, some good play between Coates and Price led to a JJ shot which this time went wide. Barnet rallied again, but incurred the wrath of the Swans fans when Omiyimni fell theatrically in the area under a challenge from Bound - Omiyimni clearly a player who has yet to grasp the laws of the game (as well as the rules of the Worthington Cup!).

Alsop nearly doubled our lead on 74 minutes after a neat one-two with Coates, but Harrison made yet another crucial save at close range. A couple of minutes later, McGleish spurned a half chance when he escaped the shackles of Bound but his header was weak and easily saved. We then came under considerable pressure in the final 7 - 8 minutes when, for the only period in the game, we rather lost our composure and pattern of play. However, we continued to defend soundly, and there were no serious threats to our goal - the only scary moment coming well into injury time, when a rare moment of hesitation saw a corner bounce right across our six yard box, but no Barnet striker had the alertness to convert. At the final whistle there was no doubt that this was three points well deserved as a result of solid but enterprising performance, which has given us a terrific start to a testing week.

Player ratings
Freestone - 7 caught pretty much everything, but just a couple of hesitant moments
Jones - 8 Could be man of the season again; times his tackles so well at the moment.
Smith - 8 As usual, towering in the air and nippy on the ground
Bound - 8 Very solid and made a couple of telling blocks.
Price - 8 Gave them a torrid time with his energetic running, and produced one terrific cross, but needs to make his crossing more consistently good.
Thomas - 7 Exerted himself well - we won the midfield battle today. Hope the knock which took him off for the second half is nothing serious.
Cusack - 7 Also got stuck in and exerted some influence over the game...it makes all the difference.
Coates - 8 His days of steaming past players are probably over (if they ever existed) but he is maturing into a very intelligent play maker from the left; he also covered a lot of ground and set up some good opportunities for others.
Watkin - 9 Link play at its best. It makes the difference to have wide players to lay it off to, and his goal was terrific. - sure he's been out celebrating already!
Alsop - 7 Battled hard and caused them all sorts of problems, but no striking instinct in front of goal.
Jenkins (for Thomas) - 7 Didn't make as much of an impression as Thomas, but some good passing play with Coates and Watkin.
O'Leary Not on long enough for a rating, but worryingly he looked exhausted after 5 minutes. Looks unfit and, unlike some, we do not consider him a midfielder.

Summary:
Of course, it was disappointing that we did not convert more of our chances to win more comfortably, and sometimes seemed to just voluntarily stop playing for spells, which allowed Barnet to get back at us. But overall this was a good performance, and one which we should take much comfort from, especially considering Barnet's table position before the game.

We were impressed with the creative running of our forwards, and the neat interplays involving Coates, Watkin and Price. Even more impressive was the quality of the defending, with Smith and Bound heading everything and Jones and Howard (ably supported by Coeates and Price) cleverly guarding the flanks without diving in. This meant that most Barnet attacks came from speculative angled crosses which were easily dealt with by Smith and Bound. Some tenacious tackining in midfield also meant that our overall defensive display was what you would expect of the best defence in the land.

We are now well ahead of fourth place and looking strong. Can't wait to get to Halifax on Tuesday...see you there!!!