Planet Swans ArchivesDire Swansea City turned in their worst performance of the season as they were embarrassed by struggling Stockport County. Any hopes of another FA Cup run were washed away in the Greater Manchester rain, leaving boss Kenny Jackett wondering how his team could be so bad having been so good in their previous game.
A lacklustre showing was summed up by the Stockport goals, both of which should have been snuffed out by the visiting defence. But Swansea sloppiness left Chris Turner’s men celebrating only a third win of the campaign. This tie was a repeat of last year’s second-round meeting between the clubs, when Jackett’s side were the League Two outfit hoping for an upset.
The roles were reversed this time round, with Stockport suffering in the Football League basement and Swansea pushing for a place in the Championship. Hence the visitors were hot favourites to emulate their performance of 12 months ago, when they emerged 2-1 replay victors after a hard-fought goalless draw on this ground. One of the Swansea goalscorers then, Paul Connor, was back in the starting XI yesterday for the first time since damaging ankle ligaments at Hartlepool seven weeks ago.
The former Rochdale man was recalled for Bayo Akinfenwa – left on the bench because of a suspected stress fracture in a shin – in the sole change to the line-up which thumped Chesterfield last Saturday. Stockport were on the other end of a 6-0 beating at Carlisle last time out, prompting boss Turner into five changes. The Hatters are enduring a terrible season, but there was no sign of a lack of confidence as they began on the front foot. Keith Briggs brought the first save of the game from Willy Gueret and Ludovic Dje nudged wide of the post inside the opening six minutes.
Briggs forced a smarter Gueret stop on the 20-minute mark as Stockport continued to make light of the gulf between these sides in the league tables. Swansea threatened occasionally on the break, with their first shot on target coming from an unlikely source. Alan Tate galloped down the right before cutting inside and drawing a decent stop from home keeper James Spencer.
Swansea were gifting possession to their hosts too often and Gueret was grateful to see two dangerous set-pieces scrambled clear before the half hour. The French keeper palmed Michael Raynes’s looping header over the woodwork as Swansea’s sluggish start grew into a sloppy first period. Sam Ricketts was on hand to snuff out a dangerous Matt Hamshaw break before the League One high-flyers finally offered a hint of their attacking quality. Lee Trundle was the creator, lofting a pass over his shoulder for Connor to chase.
The recalled striker turned his man neatly but saw his left-foot shot parried to safety. Within inches of an undeserved lead, Swansea finally went behind four minutes before the turnaround. There seemed little danger when Kevin Austin cut out Dje’s wayward pass just outside his own box. The normally reliable centre-back dallied, though, allowing EASTER to steal possession and tuck his shot under the helpless Gueret. Swansea could have gone two down with the last act of the half, Tate and Austin getting themselves in another pickle before watching gratefully as Easter rifled over.
Jackett’s men began the second half knowing a serious improvement was required to give them any hope of making it to round three of the cup for the third successive year. Whatever the manager said, however, his players did not take on board and the second goal Stockport had been threatening soon arrived. This time it was Izzy Iriekpen’s turn to be robbed by the pacy Easter on the edge of his own area. The Cardiff-born striker fed Danny Boshell and his pass found BRIGGS in space on the right edge of the penalty area.
The angle to goal was tight but that was no problem to the Stockport skipper, who drove emphatically into the roof of the net. Jackett, relieved to see a yellow rather than red card flashed at Kevin McLeod for a reckless challenge on Ross Greenwood, sent on Akinfenwa and Andy Robinson in a bid to stem the tide. Still Stockport looked the more dangerous side, though, and Adrian Forbes was soon summoned by the increasingly desperate Jackett.
Forbes joined Akinfenwa and Trundle up front as Swansea reshuffled, but the changes had little impact. In fact it was Stockport sub Michael Malcolm who almost made a difference as Gueret was called into action once again. Jackett waved his arms in the dugout, his players huffed and puffed on the pitch. But this was one of those dreadful days to be a travelling fan, and Stockport were not to be denied one of the upsets of the weekend. Robinson’s late 25-yarder would have made no difference even if it had flown under rather than just over the crossbar.
