Swansea 1 Hull 0

Colin Addison stuck with the same side that started against Scunthorpe on Tuesday and lined his team up as follows

Freestone

Phillips Todd Mumford Sharp Howard

Brodie Cusack Coates

Sidibe Watkin

The crowd was boosted by two factors – a decent away support considering the distance from Hull for a Friday night game and also the half price admission that applied to all parts of the ground. It needed Swansea to be at their best with people attracted back in to the Vetch but they were not treated to the first half that they wanted to see as Hull had the better of a scrappy affair.

Indeed, had it not been for Roger, moving into 2nd place on the all time Swansea league appearance list, then we would have found ourselves a couple of goals down at half-time. Hull were by far the sharper and more dangerous team during the opening 45 minutes as Swansea struggled to move the ball with any authority and too often found that the midfield was lacking (in presence as well as ability)

Roger pulled off three top drawer saves during the first 45 minutes as his defence looked shaky in front of him at best. You could almost sense that chances like the ones that were going begging for Hull would come back to haunt them as an away team with the better of an opening period.

Swansea’s best opening in the first half came from Coates who took a ball from Mumford and as the Llanelli man moved forward for a return ball, Coates turned the other way and hit a low shot which rebounded off the post and was cleared for a corner.

A Swansea lead at this point would have been a travesty and discussions behind the North Bank at half time said that this was little better than what we had seen in the opening half against Scunthorpe.

Again, Addison made the half-time substitution by bringing on Williams for Brodie hoping to secure another better second half performance. And early doors it did seem to allow Swansea to step up a gear but again with little initial opportunity to break down the Hull defence which seemed well organised and efficient in dealing with what Swansea were trying.

In fairness, Hull were less dangerous in the second half and the game looked all set for stalemate as the home crowd tried at times to turn up the volume to lift the Swans to victory. Chris Todd was the guilty party as Swansea spurned their best chance of the second half as he rose to head the ball goalwards in the six-yard box but when a downward header would have been enough, Todd headed the ball against the bar and it rebounded to safety as you begun to wonder if it was to be Swansea’s night.

As the game moved into it’s last quarter, Musselwhite in the Hull goal was called on to make a couple of decent saves one from Mumford and one from Sharp as Swansea took the upper hand without completely dominating proceedings.

The ineffective Coates was replaced by Casey with 20 minutes to go and with five minutes left, Swansea won a corner which Casey moved over to take in front of the North Bank. Ryan Casey seldom delivers a killer ball but his corner was perfection and as it reached the back post, Steve Watkin was on hand to head the ball home and send the home crowd into celebration mood as they contemplated a fourth win in five games.

The fourth official held the board up for four minutes of stoppage time and despite a few nervous looks, Swansea were never really threatened during that period and the whistle sounded soon (well about four minutes!) later to provide Swansea with another maximum haul.

It doesn’t take much to pick a man of the match from this game with Roger the leading candidate for his first half saves, without which, we would not have had a hope of getting anything from this game. The general summary is that we have played better than this and lost but had you said to me at the start of the day that we would have three more points come 9.45 tonight, you know I would have taken it.

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