It was another one of those what could/should have been afternoons for the Swans who had possession by the bucket load, territorial advantage by the shed load and more chances than your average game but they lacked one thing. The guile to break down a Coventry side who became the 8th team in 13 games to leave the Liberty with a point in their possession.
And that in itself is a damming statistic that explains why the Swans are 10th – 6 points off the play offs whereas turning even half of those draws into victories would see them commanding a top 6 place at this moment in time.
And with a trip to Birmingham on Sunday, that top 10 position could end before the year is out and what is to say that then the seven draws – of which by all accounts at least five should have been victories will look even more costly.
The Swans lined up as follows
Dorus
Rangel Monk Williams Tate
Gomez Britton Pratley Allen Butler
Scotland
With six draws behind them at the start of play the Swans really needed to get into the winning habit again and an early goal could have kick started the season once again. But it was to be an afternoon of frustration but not again for some of the best efforts of the players who after a strange opening five minutes settled into the normal routine.
The threats were more evident down the left hand side through Butler with Gomez own best moments coming when he drifted into the centre and Rangel provided the width on the right. The referee was refusing to allow the game to flow and was quickly on the wrong end of the home support in the 17600 crowd when he refused to give several fouls for blatant pushes on Swans players.
Indeed he excelled himself when he booked Butler for diving as the winger went down under challenge having worked his way past the defender on the left hand side. With nothing to gain by the dive (he was outside the box) it seemed a strange call but typical of a very poor performance from the man in the middle.
Britton, Pratley and Allen were in charge of the midfield but as seems to have become more common in recent games the Swans were unable to break down a resolute Coventry defence and seemed lacking in the final third of the pitch. Butler forced a save from Westwood in the Coventry goal whilst a snapshot from Eastwood was well saved from Dorus on a rare Coventry attack.
Half time and goalless was the inevitable scoreline from the first 45 minutes and the second took on a pretty similar pattern. The threat from the left totally disappeared meaning the Swans looked less effective in attack whilst Coventry had more breakaway moves that made you wonder if they may actually sneak a winner in there somewhere. Eastwood screwed their best chance wide whilst the Swans struck the inside of the post in the second half but it was all going one way and one way only – another single point for the Swans.
Allen was replaced by Pintado which seemed to lessen the Swans threat whilst Butler was replaced late on by Gower but by that point I think everyone had decided it was going to be a Boxing Day stalemate.
And so it proved meaning the Swans have amassed 13 draws in their 25 games this season – a statistic that means it is likely to be always in with a shout but never bering able to sustain the push towards the higher echelons of the division. Which in itself is okay as many said that the first and only priority was survival.
The question many will ask is would they have traded those thirteen draws for say 4 wins and 8 defeats instead? Thats the dilemma people can work on for now but as the 2008 football at the Liberty draws to a close, the Swans can look back on a successful 12 months at home and I am sure if we had offered 10th in the Championship on January 1 then most would have taken it…..
Birmingham next, away on Sunday. Wouldn’t it just be typical of the Swans to end this run with a win up there??
