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Sometimes the introduction of a substitute really changes a game and that was the case at the Vetch this afternoon after the second half introduction of Andy Robinson into the proceedings.
Up until that point the Swans had huffed and puffed but never looked like coming anywhere near blowing a house down as the league’s bottom side more than matched and nullified anything that the home side had to offer.
After two wins over the Easter period there was a change as expected for the Swans as Sam Ricketts came straight back into the line up with Andy Gurney being the man to drop out. Kenny Jackett also reverted his side to a 4-4-2 formation with Britton and Mcleod providing the width as Paul Connor dropped to the bench.
Gueret
Ricketts Monk Iriekpen Austin
Britton O’Leary Martinez McLeod
Thorpe Trundle
Subs: Gurney, Robinson, Forbes, Bean, Connor
The first half was entirely forgettable from the moment that the Swans kicked off and almost immediately lost possession setting the tone pretty much for the first half.
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The best chance of the said half fell to Trundle who headed over unmarked from inside the six yard box while O’Leary and Thorpe both failed to make any real connection with their own free headers.
Cambridge were a side pretty much in the correct position in the league but such was our ineffectiveness it was hard to believe for fourty five minutes that we were 20 places and more than double the number of points ahead of them.
And for ten minutes at the end of the half it was even more damming with the visitors starting to look the more dangerous as they looked for the goal that would give a glimmer of hope to their survival chances.
Surely the second half could only be better? Well, for ten minutes the simple answer was from our point of view it was probably slightly worse. Cambridge could and probably should have taken the lead within two minutes of the restart as the Swans hesitated badly in defence and the ball was scrambled away for a corner but leaving us with another heart stopping moment as Willy received treatment for what looked like a head injury. |
SWANSEA |
| Gueret |
| Austin |
| Iriekpen |
| Monk |
| Ricketts |
| McLeod |
| Martinez |
| O’Leary |
| Trundle |
| Thorpe |
| Britton |
|
CAMBRIDGE |
| Ruddy |
| Duncan |
| Goodhind |
| Newey |
| Tann |
| Nicholls |
| Somner |
| Toner |
| Bramble |
| Roberts |
| Chillingworth |
|
REFEREE |
| L Probert |
|
ATTENDANCE |
| 8,664 |
With no reserve goalkeeper on the bench it was Adrian Forbes who found himself warming up in case of real emergency. Thankfully, Willy recovered.
| O’Leary Looks For The Ball |
Kenny Jackett had seen enough and after ten minutes withdrew McLeod from the action, sending on Robinson in his place. That was enough to see a change in the game and almost straight away Robinson became more involved than McLeod had been.
| O’Leary Loses Out In The Air |
It was painfully obvious that we needed a goal and that came ten minutes after the change.
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Goals |
Trundle won the ball on the left hand side of the pitch and played a lovely ball through to Robinson who took aim, fired and scored the goal that sent the collective sigh of relief around the Vetch. The Swans were ahead and promotion was back on the cards again as the cried of ‘Jacks Are Going Up’ made their first appearance of the afternoon.
From that point, the game changed and Cambridge looked like a side beaten despite their being almost 25 minutes of the game remaining.
All of a sudden, the passes that were going astray found their men and the chances were being created.
Thorpe though was proving to be less effective in a two man attack than he is in a three but Cambridge were offering nothing to show any signs that they will be playing league football next season. |
| Swansea |
| Robinson 66 |
| Trundle 83, 88 |
| Cambridge |
| None |
| Card Count |
| Booked |
| Swansea |
| None |
| Cambridge |
| None |
| Sent Off |
| Swansea |
| None |
| Cambridge |
| None |
| Match Pictures |
| CLICK HERE |
At 1-0 though you can never relax and the second did not arrive until seven minutes from time. But when it did it showed the effectiveness that Robinson can give us. A defence splitting pass to Trundle was coolly taken by the leading scorer and the Swans were two goals to the good and the three points were in the bag.
| Ruddy Deals With A Corner |
Now it was party time and with two minutes left, two became three. A long ball from Ricketts was taken by Thorpe who played Trundle in in his favoured position of cutting in from the right and as he did so he fired a shot from the edge of the area that gave the Cambridge keeper no chance and 3-0 it was.
Time was played out with as much ease as we had received from the moment we scored and as news filtered in of a perfect day for results elsewhere the Swans were back in the automatic promotion places – something almost unthinkable nine days ago.
Trundle was unsurprisingly given the sponsors man of the match award but for me it had to be Andy Robinson who turned the game with a goal and an assist and generally offered us far more than we had before his arrival.
This was the proverbial banana skin game and we came through it unscathed and with momentum on our side it is very possible that the Vetch could be said goodbye to with a promotion party in four weeks time.
Click Here For Match Pictures
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