B Rovers 1 Swans 0

Dai Smith and I made an 11th hour decision to go to Tractorville – mainly thanks to the offer of tickets from Super Stu. We sat 2 feet in front of Leighton James’ commentary position so that we had the same view as him. The pitch was dreadful – the corner flags had triangles of green grass – the rest of the pitch was a rectangle of sand.

In the middle of the rectangle of sand, was rectangle of mud where some newly laid turf had been. On the field Hollins made changes – going for dog qualities rather than silky skills. Todd came in for the injured O’Leary to partner Matt Bound in the back four. Romo and Lacey were dropped to the bench and replaced by Gareth Phillips and Lee Jenkins.

The remainder of the team remained unchanged. We were first to threaten with a shot from the edge of the box from Gareth Phillips, but after 7 mins or so we were 1-0 down when 2 or 3 players were out-muscled for the ball (theme of the afternoon) to present the Rovers forward with a simple shooting opportunity. Rovers dominated the first half and Roger had a few shaky moments aided and abetted by poor defending.

At half time I engaged Leighton James in conversation to see what his view of the game was. It was much in line with my assessment – but these comments were not matched by his radio report where he had us the better team.

Second half we did take the game to them, but never tested their keeper with all our better efforts flashing wide of the goal. Rovers should have gone 2-0 up when their forward missed an open goal after being let in by the exposed Todd.

Cue the 483 travelling Swans to sing “Sign him up”. JH took Price off for Roberts (when both Dai and I independently decided that Fabiano should have been replaced) and later he brought Boyd on for Cusack who looked to have tweaked a hamstring.

Late pressure at both ends led to an exciting finish – but no further goals. In summary, a better performance from Swansea who at least tried but were too easily pushed off the ball.

JH post match interview was particularly bristly – again his assessment at odds with what we’d seen.