Planet Swans ArchivesSwansea were guilty of throwing away two points this afternoon at the Vetch as they blew a two goal cushion and had to settle for a point on an afternoon when the right result would have extended their comfort zone in third place.
With a vastly reduced Vetch crowd of 6,700 there was a normal feeling about this game rather than the extra numbers that had been generated in the holiday fixtures against Boston and Yeovil. Whether the crowd was reduced because of the two home games in three days we will only know on Monday but I suspect that the board may be a little disappointed at the big drop in attendance.
With Alan Tate back from suspension but Adrian Forbes missing this one through his own indiscretions, there were a few changes in the Swans side. It saw two defenders taking up the central midfield roles and two central midfielder roles providing the width although, as was soon to be evident there was little of that in the first half.
Gueret
Ricketts Iriekpen Monk Austin
Britton Gurney Tate Robinson
Connor Trundle
Subs: Murphy, Anderson, Fisken, Maylett, Pritchard
Not for the first time this season we were treated to a dire first 45 minutes at the Vetch as the Swans offered little bar long range efforts from Gurney and Trundle whilst Wycombe were equally woeful but should have scored at least once when Tyson missed with a header when it looked easier to score.
It was vastly evident during this period that the midfield line up was to create little. There was no width to the Swans play with both Robinson and Britton drifting inside meaning that Wycombe could pretty much with ease cope with whatever Swansea threw at them as the crowd began to get restless.
News that both Scunthorpe and Yeovil were not winning agitated the crowd more as they saw a chance to gain some ground on the leading two coming to little avail as Swansea threatened pretty much nothing during the opening period. The defence looked solid enough although the pace of Nathan Tyson was always to be a worry. Stave Claridge making his Wycombe debut clearly was not up to speed on their own kit – preferring to wear socks of a different colour to the rest of his team mates for all the first half.
Something had to change during the interval and it was Swansea that elected to make that change as Jackett sent on Maylett and Anderson in place of Robinson and captain for the day Gurney. This pairing occupied the flanks while Britton moved into his preferred position of central midfield to see what he could do there.
And that change paid dividends as Britton ran at the Wycombe defence and looked more the player that we saw in his early days at the Vetch Field. One of those runs produced the opening goal as he played a slide pass through to Connor. With the linesman satisfied that Connor was onside he took the ball around the advancing Talia with the confidence of a striker on form and rolled it into the empty net – the second half was just five minutes old.
It wasn’t even 15 minutes old when the Swans doubled their lead. Britton again was the provider as he sent Trundle through racing down on the right hand side of Talia’s goal. As he too rounded the keeper, he went down with Talia having an outstretched arm and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. Many suggested there was no contact but at that stage there was no difference to make and Trundle himself buried the penalty – Swansea were surely on their way to three points.
They were in control with some ease at this point as Britton provided a threat every time he touched the ball and Connor should have made it three as he ran onto another perfect pass from the little man but this time was unable to finish as his shot rolled wide.
We’d seen this script before – a dire first half and the Swans passing and playing superbly in the second half but somewhere along the line today, Wycombe spoiled the plot. There was less than 13 minutes on the clock when they pulled one back as Johnson glanced in a corner that the Swans defence simply failed to deal with. They were back in the game and there was immediately another blow to the Swans as Willy was booked for not giving the ball back when Wycombe scored and in the process he was ruled out of next Saturday’s trip to Boston.
Even then the Swans could have wrapped it up, Britton’s precise passing sent through Maylett on the right but indecision on whether to pass or cross sent the ball wide and it proved to be oh so costly before the match had finished.
A disputed free kick was awarded to the visitors on the right hand side which also resulted in Kevin Austin picking up his own yellow card in the process.
To be honest my view of the equaliser was obscured so not sure whether it went straight in or whether it was touched but the simple fact is that it shouldn’t have gone in. The ball was there to be cleared but more indecision saw the net move and Wycombe had pulled back a 2 goal defecit and the Swans were rueing their missed chances.
The point was enough for the visitors – it was two less than the home side wanted but the remaining time passed with neither side threatening a goal and a draw probably not the fair result based on clear cut chances but it was all either side could take.
Results elsewhere went our way and our gap between 3rd and 4th is maintained but with a two goal lead at home you should not get anything other than a win and I am sure that is the message that Kenny Jackett will be giving his players this evening.
Man of the Match for me has to be Leon Britton. From a nothing first half where I wondered if he could offer us anything, he ran the midfield for half the second half, assisting on two goals and could easily (and probably should have) assisted on four. He tired badly towards the end but the reality is we had no option for him on the bench other than Fisken who I wonder if he can do a job for us at all.
It was disappointing yes but it is another point towards our targets and we haven’t lost anything between us and the chasing pack so I guess it could have been worse,.
