Michael Reeves
There are 0-0 games that can be dull to watch and this one may have been heading that way at half time but an entertaining second period at the Swansea.com stadium made this one good to watch with an excellent display from Andy Fisher certainly a high spot from the game.
After the euphoria of last weekend’s win over Cardiff City it was back to the Swansea.com stadium today for Russell Martin and his side as they went in search of a third league win in a row and the chance to pass the half century of points for the season in the process.
Predictably the team was unchanged from the one that started in the South Wales derby just under a week ago against a Coventry side who were still harboring hopes of a play off place, starting the afternoon just four points off the division’s top six places.
A largely forgettable first half saw a few good moves from the Swans but no real pressure or requirement for the visiting keeper to make a save whilst the home side were grateful for Andy Fisher making himself big and saving Ryan Manning’s embarrassment after the defender presented the opportunity to the visiting side.
A 0-0 halftime score line summed up the first half quite nicely in what was feeling like a typical end of season encounter despite the hopes of the Sky Blues at the top end of the table.
The second half though started brightly and a sharp shot from Liam Walsh was well saved before Darling could only blast the second ball high over the bar whilst just a minute later Piroe spurned a great chance when he screwed his shot wide with the keeper already beaten.
At the other end it was Fisher again keeping the Swans in the game with a good save at his near post to keep out the visitors as both sides started to show increasing ambition to win the game.
That desire was certainly making for a more open and free flowing game which was starting to become more end to end and from a Swansea corner Darling was unable to make a clean connection with his head and the ball bounced gladly into the arms of Wilson in the visitor’s goal.
As the Swans bought on Paterson for Cullen, Coventry had their next chance of the game but could only pull the ball wide of the post although it looked as if Fisher would have had it well covered had the effort been on target.
Coventry were though gradually becoming second best in a game that they needed to win an impressive Swans midfield was pushing forward more and more and whilst with Ntcham, Walsh and Cundle wereeall creating momentum as we went in search of that all important first goal, Russell Martin made changes with half a mind on Monday’s game and the need to keep his squad as fresh as possible.
Morgan Whittaker and Jay Fulton were his new additions of choice with Cundle and Walsh making way with a little over twenty minutes to go.ย ย The changes took a little momentum out of the Swans and once again it was the excellent Fisher who kept the scoreline blank when he kept out a shot from Godden who had picked up a high and hopeful ball from his defence to find himself one on one with the Swans keeper.
Nathan Wood picked up a yellow card for a foul on the edge of the area and whilst Fisher was, for once, beaten on the day he was grateful to see Hamer’s well struck free kick curl wide of the goal as the game entered the last fifteen minutes.
It was getting to the stage that both sides were thinking one goal would be enough to settle it and that almost came from Ntcham who got a good save out of the keeper with a shot from distance and from the resulting corner another long range shot from the midfielder this time went over the bar.
Coventry responded with some good moves forward of their own and after some good balls into the box a shot from Doyle flew just wide of the post whilst Ntcham had another effort but this time saw his shot pulled wide of the post at the other end.ย ย This certainly wasn’t a dull second half with both sides keen to win the game and secure the points.
The Swans looked as if they were certain to score in the 88th minute when a good run from Whittaker into the box saw a square ball to Piroe but as the forward looked set to score his shot was blocked by a defender to deny what would surely have been the match winning moment whilst a minute later Piroe was denied again by the keeper as he got a shot away despite close attention from the defender.
Ollie Cooper replaced Ntcham as the game entered four minutes of stoppage time and that was pretty much it for the action despite a half chance for either side the game ended goalless on what had been a pretty decent second forty five minutes.
It may not have been a third successive win for the Swans but it was another afternoon where Russell Martin will have been happy with his side’s performance and the fifty point barrier has been achieved yet again.
Man of the match for me was Andy Fisher – much criticised in recent weeks but today was excellent and a clear reason for our clean sheet.
Relegation threatened Wigan on Monday next.
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Good performance .We created as many opportunities to score as Coventry .Nice to see the return to form of Cabango .We seem to be more solid with a back four.Time to forget Cundle now and play one of our own.