Phil Sumbler
Swansea City could not make it three straight league wins this evening and were forced to settle for a point at Watford with a second half header cancelling out the own goal that had given the Swans the lead in the first half.
Luke Williams made two changes from the side that started against Blackburn at the weekend with Harry Darling coming in for Kyle Naughton and Jay Fulton for Joe Allen. There was good news though for the Swans boss with Jamie Paterson’s injury not as bad as first feared and he was fit to keep his place in the Swans line up.
Buoyed by the fact that we went into the game with back to back wins, you could see an increased confidence in the Swans side during the first period and a good mix of passing, pressing and general good play set the tone in the first fifteen minutes of the game.
The Swans took the lead in the 18th minute of the game with a stroke of good fortune gained by some kamikaze goalkeeping from Bachmann in the home goal. A long ball from Grimes was looking for Placheta but with the goalkeeper coming from the ball it was a header from Andrews that wrong footed him and the ball rolled into the back of the net to give the Swans the lead.
Whilst there was a stroke of good fortune in the goal from the Swans perspective it was what we deserved at that moment in time and we continued to push for a second goal although it should be noted here that the best chance we had to double the lead was a header from Cabango kept out at point blank range with the last touch of the first half.
At the other end of the pitch the Swans were holding anything that Watford did when coming forward at bay with some ease and when the half time whistle blew the Swans went in ahead and in search of that third consecutive win.
The one thing that the last two games have taught us is that the second half performances have not matched those of the first period and we hoped that this would not be the case again today.
Those hopes were dashed in the early stages of the second half as Watford started to push forward more. And the home side got their just rewards ten minutes into the second half when Porteous rose to head home a corner flicking his header into the corner of the net.
The Swans response was to make a double substitution with the one again ineffective Jerry Yates replaced by Jamal Lowe and Liam Cullen introduced at the expense of Paterson. Watford were very much now on the front foot and could have gone ahead just minutes later with a double effort well blocked by the Swansea defence. At this stage the Swans had very much slipped their standard again in the second half, something that is becoming very much a worrying trend.
There was starting to look like just one winner of the game as Watford were now pushing forward at every opportunity and the Swans struggling to hold possession where that had become so easy in the opening period. In a bid to change that again Williams introduced Allen for his 200th Swans appearance and Naughton for Fulton and Darling with just over twenty minutes to go – was it to have the impact that we hoped?
The immediate answer was that it certainly calmed down the Swans and once again they had taken the sting out of the Hornets and there followed a period of more forward play with both Ronald and Placheta becoming more involved again having been kept quiet through the second half to here. Placheta could, and probably should, have put the Swans ahead when he ran into the Watford area but his shot missed the target when he was well placed. It was one of those moments when a pass may have been the better option given the position of Cullen but difficult to blame the wide man for going for goal.
With ten minutes left Williams made his last change when he introduced Patino for Ronald, the Brazilian definitely not having the impact in this game as he has done in his previous appearances. The game remained finely poised on an evening when real goalscoring opportunities were few and far between, could either side break the deadlock and take home three valuable points?
To their credit the Swans were defending well and not for the first time the defence was called upon to break down a dangerous looking Watford attack with a well timed block.
Five minutes of stoppage time passed with no addition to the scoreline although both sides had dangerous free kicks during that period but were unable to create the gilt edged chance that was needed to settle the game – and in that thought it just about summed up the evening,
No third win tonight for Luke Williams side but a point is a point and takes us one point further away from the relegation zone. Overall points shared tonight was about right based on the pattern of the game overall and the Swans can take a third game unbeaten into Sunday’s game at Bristol City.
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