Planet Swans ArchivesFive wins out of six in the league – conceding only one goal along the way – has seen the Swans storm up the League Two table, and we now sit proudly amongst the automatic promotion places. This time round however, we look more than capable of staying there as the squad is fitter, stronger and far more disciplined than at any stage last season.
Another win plus another clean sheet on Tuesday served to further enhance those impressive statistics and the players fully deserve the plaudits coming their way at the moment.
I’m sure there will be quite a few people out there (mostly Luton fans) that will dismiss this latest success out of hand…after all, it was “only” the LDV Vans Trophy and Luton fielded a “weakened” team that was further diminished by a harsh dismissal after only twelve minutes.
But like any cup competition the further you go, the more lucrative it becomes and the Swans are just four games away from a money-spinning final in Cardiff. People tend to stop belittling the tournament by that stage!
As for playing against a weakened Hatters side, you can only beat what’s in front of you and, after all, they are a division above us and should at least manage a shot on target – even if they are playing their reserve side.
Beaten manager Mike Newell summed it up pretty well when he said: “You don’t like getting beaten whatever the competition is and whatever side you put out. It hurts, particularly when you’ve played with 10 men for so long.
“Swansea had a go and deserved their win. It could have been 2-0 after five minutes when it was 11 against 11, and the sending off was always going to make things difficult for us.”
Newell also went on to concede that it was “like the Alamo out there”, which was a pretty fair reflection of a game that Swansea dominated…literally from the first whistle to the last, with new boy Scott Fitzgerald almost scoring within ten seconds of his debut and old man Nugent slamming in the winning goal just fifteen seconds from the end of normal time.
Luton were never in the game, mainly due to the efforts of the meanest defence in the entire Football League – a unit dominated by the sheer brute force of the outstanding Kevin Austin. Gurney and Ricketts again impressed, defending solidly and attacking with real menace.
There were also strong performances from O’Leary, Forbes and Maylett whilst Fitzgerald showed some promising touches on his debut.
But Man of the Match, without a shadow of a doubt, has to go to Roberto Martinez for the way he controlled the middle of the park, spraying the ball about with unerring accuracy and tackling as if his life depended on it. With his injury problems now behind him Robbie looks to be back to his best, and his restoration to the side has been a major factor in our recent good form.
The noisy and enthusiastic crowd of 3500 left the Vetch feeling pretty good about life as a Jack. Watching your team win is one thing but watching them do it in style is something else altogether…a fact that Jackett has now come to understand, to his credit.
Jackett has won over his critics (and I’ll admit I was one of them) by listening to them instead of ignoring them and in doing so he has shown that he is without questionthe right man to lead Swansea City Football Club into its fantastic new home at Morfa. He’s added some creative style to the steel that he instilled in the team from the start and now we are all reaping the rewards.
The combination of long and short passing plus the ability of certain players to run with the ball is providing an entertaining brand of football worthy of the last season at the Vetch Field. The defensive unit looks awesome at the moment and if the forward players can start converting more of the chances being created then we’ll be waving goodbye to the Vetch from the giddy heights of Coca Cola League One.
Altogether now….Kenny Jackett’s Black and White Army!!
