Rob Davies
It seems a long time ago that the Swans were struggling after a poor start to the season but it’s clear to see that the team is coming of age and the patience is paying off.
Indeed Russell Martin was under pressure after a run of two wins in 15, something highlighted on BBC Radio Wales after the match but things change quickly in football and it undoubtedly has.
Martin’s young squad are showing a maturity far beyond their collective years – the Swans had the youngest line up in the Championship for the last two rounds of fixtures – and 4th position is testament to that.
Today’s fixture against Cardiff had all the potential for a Swans slip up against a team struggling for form and confidence but from the seventh minute when Callum Robinson saw red there was never a doubt in where the points would be heading.
And through Martin’s sensible management along with the team’s growth of late it all leads to a very rosy picture in SA1 with significant experience like Ryan Manning, Joe Allen, Joel Piroe and Jamie Paterson due to return to the squad in the coming week or so.
Martin told the official site post match: “It was a really enjoyable day.
“We were helped with the early red card. It was something we spoke to our players about – especially the young ones in the team – to not get involved in any of that.
“Thankfully for us, one of their players did.
“It’s a really easy mistake to make when the atmosphere is like this in such a big game.
“Then, it was about sticking to our game plans more than ever and not changing anything because we are playing 10 men. We wanted to play with pace.
“I really liked us, we created a lot and we should have scored more goals than we did.
“It took a bit of time to score the first one, and then we got a bit excited to go and score the second goal, which did not help us really.
“I know there is an expectation that you should go and score more goals against 10 men, but Cardiff were fighting hard to stay in the game.
“That’s a great bit of learning for us.
“We got three bookings for getting involved in stuff that we had spoken about, things that their player had got sent off for – albeit not as extreme. But we shouldn’t have got involved.
“We needed to keep being us, but got the game back under control and I really liked the last half hour. The frustration is we did not score more goals.
“But I am really proud of them, it’s such a young team again. They are growing all the time, the connection between the supporters and the team is growing all the time.
“Hopefully everyone goes away happy.”
“Then, it was about sticking to our game plans more than ever and not changing anything because we are playing 10 men. We wanted to play with pace.”
One of my biggest criticisms of the current regime is that, when we have a chance to do a quick counter attack, we literally stop and wait for the opposition to set up to defend before we start trying to break them down again instead of quickly moving into the final third. We have the numbers and advantage yet we stop and wait. It’s something I can’t accept. Everything else is great though. Oh, and the through ball to Obafemi for the second goal today, we had at least 6 possible opportunities to pull that trigger yet only took it once. Another frustration as it happens every week.