Swansea 1 Cheltenham 1

With all the words already written, the start of the season seems an age ago, but this was only the second home game of the season. After all the bad weather over the last week and the promise of more to come it was a warm rain free day at the Vetch. A late enforced change, we hear that Austin was caught in the long tailbacks on the M4 due to a fatal accident, saw the Swans line up

Gueret Tate, Jones, Monk and Ricketts Forbes, Britton, O’Leary and Robinson Conner and Nugent.

With no keeper on the bench the subs were Trundle, Maylett, Thomas, Iriekpen and Fisken.

The Swans went for Cheltenham from the off, but the final pass or cross was woeful as very little pressure was put on the Cheltenham goal. So dominant were we that the opening goal would surely come, as the game seemed to be there for the taking. Unfortunately being the dominant team brings no reward unless it is turned into consistent pressure on the opposition defence. To be fair to Cheltenham they handled anything we were throwing at them with ease. The nearest we looked like scoring was when Tate made a run from the half-way line beating a couple of players and then sent a shot towards the top left hand corner. It lacked power and was taken out of the air by keeper Higgs.

Nugent again shot on the half volley, with again Higgs saving well tipping onto the bar and away for a corner. Seconds later from the cross Connor sent a looping header onto the angle of the bar and post. We were not getting any luck but on the stroke of half-time a little came our way when Cheltenham should have scored their second. Odejayi was on the six yard box with only Gueret to beat but the ball didn’t bounce kindly for him allowing Gueret to block.

Half-time came with the team leaving the pitch to boo’s. It had been a half that apart from a few moves by Cheltenham had seen the Swans dominate which only added to reflect how poor the performance had been. The team was crying out for a change in formation and tactics, but the same players took the field for the second half. It was much of the same but it looked a sure equaliser when a partly cleared ball fell to Forbes just outside the corner of the six-yard box. He steadied himself but at the last moment snatched at his shot sending it high over the bar. Cheltenham was more adventurous and Melligan had a sharp shot just past the post.

The ground erupted much in relief than just for the well taken goal. For the first time our attacks showed purpose and we felt that we could actually scramble a win. A win that nearly came when Maylett cut in from the right only to see his near post shot saved by Higgs. The pressure continued but with no further threats on goal. Nugent had been struggling for a while surely the introduction of Thomas would have offered us more. The final whistle was met with a few boo’s but then replaced by applause. Players Comments. Gueret. Had very little to do. Some kicks were wayward, but always looked to create quick breakaways only to find very little interest up front. Tate. Steady but to blame for the goal. He does still have the knack of switching off. Jones. Still only a squad player. Would it do much to his lack of confidence not to have not been played at right back? Monk. Again steady but lacks pace. Talks to his co defenders. Ricketts. Again a steady display although not a left sided player. Forbes. A very poor game failing to get a decent cross in. A player that looks as if he would play better in a strike partnership with a big man. Britton. A lively performance but again with little end result. Relieves the pressure but lacks a telling pass. O’Leary. Again did what he is best at, but does not look for the ball. A good battler Robinson. Didn’t seem interested as the game past him by. Did up his game with the introduction of the subs. Nugent. Won some headers but overall very limited input. Connor. Very ineffectual his pairing with Nugent is not working. So what can be taken from a poor game? With Austin missing, we saw a near wholesale change in defence. A player that has been playing right back moving into a central position A player used to playing right back playing left back. A player who plays all his games in central defence playing right back. We have no left sided mid-field or attack resulting in our most effectual central midfielder playing on the left. The team has a very disjointed look to it. A team must play to the strengths of the players we have available. Which brings the big question what is wrong? The players don’t seem happy with the style of play, but the body language shows more. Kenny Jackett has stated his style is a high tempo pressure game. Have we the players to play that game. On today’s performance the answer is no. Apart from the 15mins after the introduction of the subs, the build up was painfully slow with most moves ending with a hopeful ball in the general direction of Nugent or Connor. Further questions have to be asked of the players as balls were just sent forward with no hope of a result when better options were available. So to end with. Are the players playing for Kenny Jackett? Are they playing some long balls, because that’s the tactics we are playing without any thought that it is a wasted ball. And to cap it all the M50 was closed on the way home.

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