Planet Swans ArchivesIt matters not in football when a goal is scored – it’s scoring it that is the most important and for the second consecutive game, Swansea had to rely on a late one to secure the three points that their play for the 90 minutes deserved.
Last time Mansfield visited the Vetch there were endless debates about the quality of the refereeing but this time around there can be no complaints from opposition manager Keith Curle who had to rely on several scrambled clearances and poor finishing in the first half to keep his side in it for so long.
Andy Gurney had returned to the Swans side that secured a draw at Chester last week whilst Brad Maylett made what seems to be a rare start at the expense of the eventual hero Adrian Forbes as Kenny Jackett looked for his 5th successive Vetch victory after waiting for so long to secure the first one.
The first half was dominated pretty much by the Swans after a couple of scares early on fron the lively looking Asamoah and Larkin for the visitors. One half chance went over the bar but it was enough for the Swans to get their game into gear with some nice football that should really have had some reward by the time the 45 minutes was up.
Trundle was first to test Pilkington in the Mansfield goal with a sharp turn and shot. More amazingly from this the turn was to the left and the shot was with the right but it still took a low down stop to keep the score goalless. Next up was Robinson whose reaction was not quite quick enough when Pilkington spilled the ball under no pressure and jumped thankfully on the loose ball as Robinson tried to get it from under his own feet.
Swansea were forcing a succession of corners to keep their guests on the back foot but all too often the corners were finding a Mansfield head and not the Swansea one that we all hoped for.
On the right hand side of midfield there seemed plenty of space for Maylett not often enough used to his own frustration as Swansea looked to play more through the centre than in recent weeks.
The goal looked as if it was coming and there was a golden chance for Ricketts when Robinson played him in on the overlap but his shot was deflected over by a retreating defender with Pilkington already beaten denying the defender a second goal in successive home games.
Asamoah was slightly unlucky to be booked for not retreating at a free kick that Tate was trying to Tate – a fate that was also to befell Swans substitute Kevin Nugent in the second half as the game was taking a completely different outlook to the one of last August.
And from the Swans fans point of view they thought they were ahead just before the interval when Paul Connor was played in by a brilliant through ball from Trundle and lifted his shot over the advancing Pilkington only to find again that Mansfield defend as well as we do as the ball was cleared off the line to keep the score at the interval goalless.
Good news was given to me at half time when I was told that any previous split that there may or may not have been in the camp has now gone and all players are firmly 100% behind Kenny Jackett – evident perhaps in the performance of recent weeks which ended in us hitting the top tonight.
As the second half started it did become apparent very quickly that one goal would most probably be enough to win this match and the Swans started to utilise the space that Brad Maylett was finding and returned to trying to build their attacks down the flanks.
A couple of long range efforts from Robinson went just over and a header from Kevin Austin drew a very loud handball appeal from behind the East goal at the Vetch but there was nothing doing from the referee as both managers made their decisions to make a double change to try and make a difference to the end result.
From Jackett’s point of view it was Britton and Nugent for Robinson and Connor as he looked for the pace of Britton and aerial ability of Nugent to unsettle the Mansfield defence.
But it was the visitors who could have taken an undeserved win when Larkin broke one on one and only a good stop from Willy and a clearance from his retreating defence prevented us going a goal down, very much against the run of play. Was this to be the night that the one goal went against us?
Forbes replaced Maylett and the game was running out of minutes when the decisive moment arrived. A superb cross from the left hand side was met at the back post by the springing Forbes and his header was directed well enough to give Pilkington no chance and the Swans a deserved three points.
As the news filtered through from Rochdale that Yeovil were behind it was a moment to savour as the Swans returned to the top for the first time in more than twelve months.
Yet again I don’t feel that the scoreline reflected some of the clear cut chances that we created and on another night against another side then it could have been a different story with a three or four goal win possibly not that unfair a reflection.
Man of the match for me was a very tough call with no-one standing out but I would say a split between Martinez and O’Leary who did tend to dominate the midfield and both were always prepared to chase back and try and win the ball back.
And in terms of the referee, there were some not clever decisions in favour of both sides but on the whole he had a good game and thankfully on this occasion the talk can all be about the football.
SAY WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!
