I guess sometimes you feel hard done by to not beat ten men but when you reflect back on this game you can easily argue that we should be grateful to escape with a draw on an afternoon when we never hit the heights we know we are capable of and we were given little space to play by a Southampton side who had a game plan and they stuck to it.
They were helped by a referee who let them get away with some things that others would not and they were also helped by two defensive errors from the Swans that led to the two goals – the first of them an uncharacteristic mistake from Garry Monk, the second a lapse of concentration that eventually proved to cost us the victory.
Ultimately though we have to be happy with a point especially when you factor in the loss for the game of two of the key figures in the last few weeks performances in Nathan Dyer and Darren Pratley – one who will be back on Tuesday and one who is unlikely to see football this side of April. That left gaps for today filled by Joe Allen and Andrea Orlandi thus leaving the Swans to line up as follows
Dorus
Rangel Monk Williams Tate
Orlandi Britton Gomez Allen Gower
Scotland
The Swans started sloppily and immediately found Southampton closing them down at every opportunity especially in the Swans own half and that was also leading to some cheap surrendering of possession as passes went astray or – much more unusually for the Swans – short of their intended target which put Southampton on the attack.
And the first sign that it may not be our day came just after the quarter hour mark when Garry Monk's back pass went nowhere near Dorus and Saganowski pounced to pick up the ball between defender and keeper. It looked for one second as if Monk's blushes may be spared but the Saints player kept his composure and slotted home as Monk, Dorus and Williams tried to save the day. Monk held his head in disappointment at the error but you can forgive a captain the odd mistake – especially when they are so few and far between.
The goal lifted Southampton and they had by far the better of the next 15 minutes as the Swans struggled to get anything going not helped by a lenient referee who let much pass when it would have been easier to penalise the home team for some late and unnecessary niggling.
But against the run of play the Swans equalised just after the half hour mark when Scotland (?) sent in Gomez who looked up on the edge of the area, picked his spot and drilled a precision shot into the bottom corner of the net and the Swans were level much to the delight of another hugely impressive travelling Jack Army.
And for the rest of the half it was a really even affair although Scotland had one ruled out presumably for a push as the Swans tried to stamp their authority on the game.
The start of the second half potentially started the same as the first although Southampton seemed to lose their cool a little as the Swans slowly started to knock it around a little. Britton was on the end of a couple of poor challenges before Molyneux slammed into Gomez on the touchline to earn himself a second yellow card of the afternoon and – to his disbelief – that meant a red.
Martinez did not waste too long to switch things around as Gower was replaced by Pintado and the Swans reverted to 4-4-2 and almost immediately the sub paid dividends.
Tate went looking for his second goal in successive games only to see his shot beaten out by the Saints keeper into the path of the oncoming Pintado who slotted home the goal to give the Swans the lead. Cue the visitors best period of the game as finally they strung some moves together and there always seemed a willing overlap in Orlandi and Rangel in particular and Butler (on for Allen) on the opposite flank.
Scotland came close to extending the Swans lead when his shot was deflected wide as the Swans looked to wrap up the three points before a lack of concentration cost them an equaliser. The ball seemed to be heading out of play and the Swans players looked content to see it do just that when a Saints player lumped it forward and Saganowski was about the only one to react as he lifted the ball over the advancing De Vries and into the back of the net to bring the home side level. On the balance of play over the whole game then it was probably a fair reflection but at the same time you cannot help but feel disappointed that it happened.
The Swans pushed for a winner and Williams saw his header deflected over whilst Tate hit the side netting from a corner as we tried to force the win but it wasn't to be.
Not our best afternoon of the season but nowhere near as bad as some of the commentary may have led you to believe.
Onwards and hopefully upwards
