Planet Swans ArchivesIt was, all things considered, a near-perfect evening for Swansea City.
Victory number seven kept them top of League One, stretched their unbeaten run to seven games and earned them their first clean sheet since the opening day of the season – could things get any better for Kenny Jackett’s men?
Well, the reason it was ‘near-perfect’ last night was only because the Swans missed several chances to add to Lee Trundle’s decisive 30th-minute goal – his ninth of the season – in a scrappy, but nonetheless entertaining, south-coast clash.
To pick fault with Swansea’s performance, though, would be somewhat churlish given this was their fourth victory in six away matches – outstanding form even by the standards of runaway Premiership leaders Chelsea.
“We are top of the league!” chirped the jubilant travelling fans and, on the evidence of Swansea’s first 11 games, it is going to take something special to dislodge them from their proud perch.
Despite dominating for most of the night, it was by no means a superlative Swans performance as Trundle, Adebayo Akinfenwa and others squandered a hatful of opportunities to kill the game off and calm Swansea nerves as Bournemouth frequently threatened to draw level.
Wastefulness which Jackett would have been cursing had goalkeeper Willy Gueret not been in such inspired form, the big Frenchman pulling off several magnificent saves to shut out the opposition for the first time since the 1-0 home win over Tranmere back on August 6.
Clearly, though, there is still plenty of time for Jackett’s men to iron out their rough edges as Swansea prepare to face another side who have had an indifferent start to the campaign, Blackpool, at the New Stadium.
Last night Jackett made one change to the side that started Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with Nottingham Forest – curiously dropping central defender Garry Monk and replacing him with Kevin Austin – as the Swans tackled a cash-strapped Cherries side who have made a slow start to the season.
Few could have predicted Swansea making this late-September trip to the south coast as league leaders, but six wins from their opening 10 matches had earned them that status as they went in search of a seventh here.
An open and entertaining first half saw an abundance of chances come Swansea’s way as Akinfenwa headed wide seconds into the match and Kevin McLeod’s 25-yard shot was not too far high of the target.
Trundle also got in on the act, with a shot that keeper Gareth Stewart needed two attempts to grasp, while only a coat of paint denied Sam Ricketts his first goal of the season when he saw a 20-yard effort spin onto the top of the crossbar after deflecting off the heel of Brian Stock.
Even Alan Tate forced Stewart into a stooping save after a determined thrust into Bournemouth’s box. Not that Gueret was able to relax.
The Swans keeper needed to show good concentration in the fifth minute when Stock’s swerving, rasping free-kick almost proved too hot to handle.
And again, in the 24th minute, Gueret had to stand firm when midfielder Andrew Surman drilled a 20-yard shot straight at him.
Swansea, though, were playing with greater confidence than their hosts and looked more clinical in the final third.
Due reward arrived on the half-hour mark when McLeod floated in a corner, Izzy Iriekpen had a snatched shot parried by Stewart and the ball fell to Trundle, who side-footed home from an acute angle.
The Scouse marksman should have claimed a quickfire double two minutes later when he blazed into the side-netting after breaking from midfield.
But battling Bournemouth were highly unfortunate not to go into the interval on level terms.
That they did not was largely down to the brilliance of Gueret, who came to Swansea’s rescue three times in quick succession.
The former Millwall keeper twice resisted Callum Hart, finger-tipping the defender’s cross- shot over the bar before doing likewise with a more precise effort.
Saving the blushes of his hesitant defenders, Swansea’s last line of defence also bravely foiled Bournemouth’s on-loan Portsmouth striker James Keene by diving at his feet to collect the ball.
Had he got his timing a fraction wrong, Gueret almost certainly would have conceded a penalty.Nine minutes after the restart and Gueret displayed yet more heroics, preserving Swansea’s lead once again by springing acrobatically to his right to keep out a header from James Hayter.
At the other end, Akinfenwa was starting to make his considerable physical presence count as he rattled the crossbar after muscling past Neil Young.
Trundle, busily trying to engineer a second goal, had a 63rd-minute shot deflected into the side netting, while Iriekpen fluffed a close-range chance when Roberto Martinez had an 18-yard effort blocked.
Bournemouth were struggling to muster much in response, though they did give the Swans a brief scare on 68 minutes when Surman headed narrowly wide from Hart’s well-measured cross.
Swansea held their breath in the dying moments when Stock unleashed a fierce 25-yard drive that took a deflection and whistled past the post.
REPORT: WESTERN MAIL
