Planet Swans ArchivesAfter heavy overnight rain and early morning winds, it was a pleasant afternoon at the Vetch with the North Bank section in a crowd of over 5000 shielding their eyes from the sun in the first half. The crowd was clearly boosted by the reduction in admission prices and above what I predicted to director Dave Morgan before the match started. And it was clear that the rallying cry had worked with all talks of demos and the such put to one side as Brian Flynn took his place on the bench to a standing ovation from sections of the centre stand.
New signing Lenny Johnrose was pitched straight into the action in midfield after signing at the eleventh hour (and fifty eight minute!) yesterday. And Swansea could have had a dream start. Good build up play on the left resulted in the centre being cleared to Britton on the edge of the box who steadied himself and volleyed a shot that looked in all the way until a good save from the Lincoln Keeper Marriott.
With a start like that and the fans behind the crowd it seemed that Swansea could have built on it but they sat back a little and let Lincoln run at them, forcing a series of corners. Most were dealt with comfortably but from the fourth or fifth the inswinger almost caught Swansea out. Roger clearly misjudged the flight of the ball and tumbling backwards just managed to palm the ball away from the goal but only to fall in a goalmouth scramble. The ball was put into the net by a Lincoln player but the referee felt that he had seen an infringement on Roger and the free-kick went our way. I have to say that had the decision been for a foul on Roger it was probably the wrong one but when you are at the bottom you need little things like that to go your way and it’s about time they did.
Lincoln’s chances were being restricted to efforts from the edge of the box and Swansea were struggling to create solid chances when they took the lead almost on the stroke of half-time. The impressive Britton won the ball on the right hand side of the area and made his way to the by-line where he played a perfect cross which was met by the rising Nugent to head over Marriott and put the Swans up. You could almost sense the relief around the Vetch that we were in front and particularly the players who were urged immediately to calm down and make sure that we didn’t go into the break at any position other than ahead.
The second half followed a very similar pattern to the first but with Swansea seemingly keener to win the loose ball and make sure that the limited chances that Lincoln had first half were severely reduced in the second period. Swansea were in the ascendancy at this point and went 2-0 up just past the hour mark. After a series of corners of our own the second goal followed a similar pattern to the disallowed Lincoln goal. A goalmouth scramble occurred after Mumford had put the corner in and it was the boot of Williams that hammered the ball home when seemingly no-one could wrap a foot around it. As you tend to in these situations you look immediately at the referee and as he pointed back to the centre circle the party really started at the Vetch.
The last half hour passed without too much incident although you always had that nagging doubt that we could not afford to give the goal away. Roger saved superbly from one Lincoln attack and when Tate bought down an advancing Lincoln attacker people found themselves talking about the possibility of a red card. Thankfully the referee saw different and just showed the yellow version and from that moment on Swansea were never troubled.
Mumford hit a 30 yarder that sailed just over and the three points were going to be ours. The team left the pitch not to the boos to which we have heard recently but to some celebration with most fans staying to cheer them off the pitch after a well deserved victory. We are far from out of the mire but a win like this will boost the confidence for some tougher opposition to come. Let’s enjoy this part while we can and no wonder where the other 25 points that we probably need will come from. On performances like this we could well get them.
Darlington are the next opponents to visit the Vetch after the Rushden game next Saturday/ How many of those extra 1500 people today will come back if the prices rise to normal levels? We can hope most of them but more importantly let’s hope for the same result
Sponsor’s man of the match was Kevin Nugent and to be fair it’s hard to argue against that although extra praise as well for Britton and Smith who hardly put a foot wrong in a very good team display.
