Phil SumblerFlynn Downes grabbed his first goal for the Swans this afternoon as we secured a point with a dominant performance against Huddersfield after falling behind early on. Downes goal was the minimum the Swans deserved on a very encouraging afternoon for Russell Martin and his team.
This was the first league game for the Swans since the 4-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the Swansea.com Stadium on December 11. Increasing Covid numbers across football had put pay to the four previous league games with last week’s FA Cup defeat being our only competitive action during that period.
Russell Martin had added two new signings to the squad this week in goalkeeper Andy Fisher and defender Cyrus Christie although Fisher had to make do with a place on the bench as Ben Hamer kept his starting spot – at least for now.
And it was Hamer who was at the centre of all the action in the early minutes of the game as he produced two saves and needed treatment for an injury all within the first ten minutes of the game.
In between all that Ryan Manning forced a save out of the opposition keeper as both sides showing attacking intent early doors in the game. Huddersfield’s attacking intent though saw them take the lead just past the quarter hour mark after some generous (again) Swansea defending. Yet again the Swans defence was unable to clear a Huddersfield attack and it was down to Hamer again to make a save but unfortunately he could only parry the save to Sinani who needed no second invitation to put the ball into the back of the net. You could look back at this moment with several views but defensively and from the goalkeeper as well it was not good enough and the Swans were again the architects of their downfall.
The rest of the first half took a familiar view with the Swans dominant in possession but with little to show from it by way of clear goal opportunities with Matt Grimes’ curling effort from the edge of the box being one of the nearest we came to an equaliser whilst at the other end we remained grateful to Hamer for keeping the scoreline at one as he made a point blank save.
On the subject of Hamer though his casual way of waiting for the ball when under pressure came close on more than one occcasion during the game with another example of this very early in the second half as we looked casual but were able to clear.
That was just the start of the second half though and from that point Swansea went into a hugely dominant part of the game where it looked inevitable that a goal would come. Christie, Ntcham, Manning and others were all taking shots at will at the goal but the Swans were not able to find the breakthrough that the play warranted thanks to some good goalkeeping, desperate defending and lucky deflections. Indeed in the first 15 minutes of the second half the Swans managed almost three times as many goal attempts as they managed n the whole first half such was our dominance at this stage with Joel Piroe another one to come close after some neat footwork in the Terriers penalty area.
With the scoreline still at 1-0 Russell Martin made his first change of the afternoon when he introduced Michael Obafemi for Cyrus Christie on 68 minutes – the Swans still dominant at this stage but goal opportunities were not as frequent as they had been right at the start of the second half.
Huddersfield’s own defensive generosity almost presented us with the equaliser when Piroe capitalised on a sloppy back pass but he was denied by a desperate challenge before regaining the ball and watching his pass to Ntcham end with a shot well over the bar – were we going to get the reward that the second half performance certainly deserved?
Huddersfield were certainly a nervy looking side at this point and it was another sloppy defensive pass that allowed Obafemi to test the home keeper from the edge of the box but he was up to the challenge.
It was a brief respite for the home side though as Flynn Downes netted the equaliser on 78 minutes. It came from good work from Korey Smith on the right hand side and he played the ball back for Downes who guided it perfectly into the corner of the net to give the Swans the minimum they deserved at this point of the game.
The Swans were not finished at this point and the players certainly sensed the win was there as their match possession went up over 70% and the passes past 700 but this was possession and passing with a purpose in the second half and great to watch.
We should not forget as well that this was a performance against one of the division’s in form teams who started the day in 6th place and as the Swans pushed Ntcham tested the home keeper again with a powerful shot from the edge of the area that was palmed away as we searched out a goal that could give us a morale boosting win.
There was though still the occasional moment for the Swans to concentrate and Hamer was called into rare action in the 86th minute with a sharp save as Huddersfield mounted a rare attack.
A late change from Russell Martin saw Kyle Joseph – recalled this week from Cheltenham – replaced Ntcham with the Swans still hopeful of the winner to bring all three points back to Wales. Was there to be one more goal in the game?
The short answer was no – a set piece for either side never materialised into what each manager would have wanted it to be and the game ended with the scoreline level – not before Piroe missed a last gasp header to secure the points. The Swans can certainly draw on some huge positives from a dominant display particularly in the second half and Russell Martin will be exceptionally grateful for ending that losing streak especially in a difficult place like Huddersfield. A solid base on which to build next week when we return to home action against Preston.
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