Swans Draw Dutch Opener

Three more games like this and Kenny Jackett might be wondering which bright spark arranged Swansea City’s pre-season tour of Holland. The good news is that it should all get a little bit easier from now on in.For Jackett’s first taste of the club’s annual Dutch sojourn is probably not one he will savour for too long. As pre-season friendlies go this was at times a fiery affair, with the Michael Bolton-lookalike referee refusing to allow his hair to be ruffled by a string of hefty challenges. Adrian Forbes suffered more than most – the ankle injury he collected last night looks like sidelining him for the rest of the trip – while Andy Robinson was grateful to leave the field with nothing more than cramp having been booted up in the air more than once. Leon Britton, predictably, lost out spectacularly in a David and Goliath contest with Youssef el Akchaoui, while Paul Connor spent almost as much time on his backside in front of nearly 4,000 at the Zuiderpark as he had on the short flight over 24 hours earlier. ”It’s difficult to judge officials in games like this, but it did seem that at any time we got moving on the ball we ended up on our bums”’ Jackett mused. In fairness the visitors, in the shape of Robinson and Forbes, did hand out a bit of treatment themselves as they battled hard for a share of the spoils. Worryingly perhaps, Swansea under Nick Cusack – remember where they ended up the following May – beat these opponents two years ago, but the rematch appeared an altogether more testing encounter. Den Haag now reside in the Dutch top flight and boasted two dangerous wingers in Jamie Smith – a two-cap Scotland international signed from Celtic last week – and Rui Dolores to go with a strong physical presence throughout. ”That was hard work” admitted Swansea centre-back Stuart Jones. ”Technically you would have to admit that they were probably superior to us and it was certainly a physical game. ”But generally I think we are shaping up pretty well for the new season and we matched them throughout the 90 minutes.” Given the onslaught Swansea had to survive in the second half, Jones’s claim may have been a touch optimistic. But credit should go to Jackett’s side for restricting their hosts to just one goal – and even that might easily have been prevented. Dolores’s looping 55th-minute cross from the left should have been dealt with, but as Willy Gueret back-pedalled to gather, Kevin Austin surged from behind to head clear. Thanks to Anglo-French communication problems, perhaps, neither achieved their aim, and the ball spilled to Smith who stroked home into the gaping net. Swansea’s equally scrappy goal had come only five minutes in after Robinson had been felled for the first time. Roberto Martinez sent a free kick in from the right flank to the far post and Jones, trying as much to head the ball back into the danger area as into the net, saw his effort deflect off his marker and just under the crossbar. ”Of course I’m claiming it,” smiled the 20-year-old, who had never previously troubled the scorers in senior football. Swansea might have doubled their tally from a similar set-piece in first-half injury time, but Austin saw two attempts scrambled clear as the whistle went. The visitors’ best effort after the break was a Robinson free-kick which lacked the fizz to beat home keeper Jim van Fessem, while a five-man wall on the line came to the rescue at the other end after Gueret had been rushed into picking up Martinez’s backpass. ”They had us on the rack for 25 minutes in the second half,” Jackett conceded, ”but I thought we were a threat in the first half and it looked a bit more even in the last 15 or 20 minutes. ”Den Haag are a Dutch top-flight team, and I don’t think we’ll be playing four games like that this week.” All in the travelling party will hope not. Stormvogels/Telstar tomorrow, then FC Noordwijk and Haarlem over the weekend should provide more opportunity for some pre-season confidence boosts.