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FULL TIME REPORT |
| MACCLESFIELD TOWN |
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SWANSEA CITY |
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A great if rather fortunate start to the new season with a 3-1 win over Macclesfield who’s old Conference stadium although with some new stands still looks far below the standard of a team befitting a Nationwide League side all be it a 3rd division club. |
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| The Swans lined up in a standard 4-4-2 formation as follows: |
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| Freestone Jenkins O’Leary Todd Howard Coates Cusack Phillips Roberts Sidibe Watkin with the following on the bench Mazzina Romo Williams Jones De-Vulgt |
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| The early running was tight and frantic as both teams tried to remove the summers cobwebs but it was the Swans who took an early lead. A great cross to the far post by Stu Roberts fed Sidibe on the left byline with some great control and smart cross he picked out Philips who couldn’t miss from 5 yds out. |
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| Macclesfield turned the screw in a bid to get back on terms and had a few chances but never caused Roger any real problems. As the silkmen pushed for the equaliser their defence was stretched more and more as the Swans broke out with the pace of Roberts and Sidibe. Eventually this pressure was taking it’s toll as the Swans hit the cross bar from a looping header by Cusack but with the goalkeeper stranded no Swans players were able to take advantage. |
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| 3 mins later however in what seemed a carbon copy move lead to the second. A cracking cross from Roberts was headed against the upright by O’Leary but Sidibe had timed his run to perfection and slid in to double their lead. |
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| As usual the Swans sat on their lead and paid the penalty when Cusack unnecessarily pushed Silkmen striker Dan Tinson over in the box but even the most ardent Silk fan would state Tinson made more than a meal of the challenge. Lee Glover converted the penalty & the Swans held on against some concentrated pressure until halftime. |
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| However the Swans had a genuine case for 4 penalties in the space of 60 seconds after Sidibe was hacked down in the box and from the resulting corners a flurry of handball incidents went unawarded leaving the 500 or so Swans who made the long journey quite irate after the way referee gave such a soft penalty to Macclesfield |
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| The whistle blew and the rain fell by the bucket load and as Macclesfield don’t believe in giving away fans a roof we got pished on! Then just as the team came out for the 2nd half it stopped again, which only goes to prove the Sun shines out of Hollins’ @rse!;-) |
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| The second half was less eventful (for the Swans anyway!) as the Swans continued to suck up the pressure and play on the break. The silkmen could easily have scored 3 goals in a space of 5 mins when Karl Lightbourne hot the woodwork with a beautiful swerving shot that clipped off the outside of the post to safety a 2 more golden chances in front of goal were spurned. |
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| Many off the signs that lead to our relegation were there with a complete inability to hold on to the ball for more than 2 passes, Watkin looked completely out of sorts and barely touched so how surprised were we to see Hollins in his infinite wisdom took off Sidibe who was my MoTM and Roberts who was a close second for Veteran John Williams and Lee De-Vulgt. |
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| The game was eventually sealed close to time when Coates who after some great work teed himself up with a one-two with Williams set himself through on goal. In the end it was a race between Coates, the Macclesfield keeper & their right back all of which seemed to lunge for the ball at the same time and from our distant position it was difficult to see how this 50:50 challenge could cause a penalty to be awarded to us but it was and I wasn’t arguing 😉 |
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| Watkin sealed the 3 points and a great start to the new league campaign. |
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| It’s always hard to get any real input as to how we are going to do for the season from the first match, but hell I’ll attempt it anyway. Upfront with the class of Sidibe we will score goals and as long as we keep Stu Roberts to keep the crosses coming in we’ll be OK, midfield looked under-sized as always and I was disappointed not to see Mazzina take the field. Defensively we looked weak but then again with both Smudger & Bound out for the first couple of games O’Leary and Todd are ample assets for this division. My one concern was that O’Leary may well have made a bad name for himself with the fans after sticking 2 fingers up at Swans fans during the match as they told him to keep his arms down in a crucial tackle. |
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| To conclude I’m glad I made the trip but there is a long way to go and as long as were in the same position in the league after the 46th match this season I’ll be quite happy! |
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