|
You won’t hear Kenny Jackett grumbling about gambling problems in football any time soon.The Swansea City manager took a big chance this weekend and, while it was more point-to-point winner than lottery jackpot, it paid off. Dropping Lee Trundle and recalling forgotten man Kevin McLeod, two of six changes, took courage – a Jackett team sheet has never caused such a stir. But evidently, fortune favours the brave. During Swansea’s miserable run of away days, Trundle had hit the bar in the dying seconds at Port Vale and the post late on at Blackpool. This time it was Oldham playing the carpenters, rattling the Swansea woodwork twice in the closing minutes of a contest which only got going in the last half hour. Had David Eyres’s pile-driver dipped three inches lower, or Luke Beckett’s curler arced a couple of centimetres further left, Jackett would have been licking his wounds after consecutive defeat No. 4 away from the Liberty Stadium. It would have been five reverses in six League One matches all told, and Swansea’s stone-like descent from the promotion picture would have gathered further momentum. Who would have shouldered the blame after such a violent team selection? Jackett. The flak had already been flying after the Bank Holiday surrender to Rotherham. After his Easter was ruined by rotten eggs, Jackett would have been on the lookout for kitchen sinks had it all gone wrong at Boundary Park. Hence it took bottle to demote Trundle, voted the fourth best player outside the Premiership only a few weeks ago. And it needed guts to bring back McLeod, the winger Jackett had tried so hard to offload before last month’s transfer deadline. Out with Trundle went Bayo Akinfenwa, Adrian Forbes, Owain Tudur Jones and Roberto Martinez, while Garry Monk failed a fitness test on his back to give his boss back troubles. Kevin Austin, last seen in February, was summoned to fill the void in central defence, while Kristian O’Leary and Leon Britton joined McLeod in a new-look midfield. Up front, Leon Knight got the start he has been waiting for alongside Rory Fallon. ”I made six changes because last weekend was that disappointing,” Jackett explained. ”The side last Monday was just out on its feet. There was no energy whatsoever and it needed fresh legs and fresh enthusiasm. ”Did the changes have the desired effect? Well we’ve got a point, which is certainly a better result than we’ve had on our travels in recent times.” Unusually, with Trundle involved, McLeod’s inclusion was the biggest talking point – even if the man himself had nothing to say. McLeod, transfer-listed after a night out in Wind Street last month and all but pushed out of the door by Jackett, refused to discuss his return to the fold with the press afterwards. Shame. He had a decent game on the left flank, doing enough to suggest he will play again next weekend against the side he very nearly joined, Southend. Sharing his thoughts on it all with Swansea’s fans would do McLeod no harm at all. Still, Jackett will not care if the Scouser’s recall proves a masterstroke in the push for the Championship. ”The club pays Kevin’s wages and if it’s right that he plays on a particular day then that’s what he does,” Jackett said. ”I felt the side was crying out for Andy Robinson to come inside to the centre of midfield and for a left-footer who can cross the ball to come in out wide. ”Kevin was the one to do that and that’s why I brought him back. I’ve said to him that there’s an opportunity there over the next two, possibly five games because the side needs a left foot.” Had Jackett been forced to swallow his pride after telling McLeod he should go a month ago? ”No,” he insisted. ”I don’t worry about that, all I worry about is the club and the team. ”If it’s Monday morning or Tuesday morning on the training ground and Saddam Hussein looks like my best player, I will play him.” While a win would of course have been preferable, just stopping the rot on the road meant Jackett was in the mood for a joke. There had been no gags at Priestfield, Vale Park or Bloomfield Road, but a battling performance – and a welcome return to the play-off places – was enough to raise a smile on the outskirts of Manchester. Swansea had been the better side in a dour first half even if the best chance, for Eyres, was swept off the line by Alan Tate. Yet it was Oldham who took the lead after Tommy Williams was penalised for a push on Paul Warne. When Beckett stroked the penalty beyond the reach of Gueret, Swansea’s captain for the first time, 450 travelling supporters braced themselves for another bodyblow. Yet Jackett’s men bounced back in sensational fashion, O’Leary capitalising on a poor defensive header by Terrell Forbes to lash home his first goal in more than a year. Trundle would have been proud of O’Leary’s wondrous, 25-yard volley, goal No. 10 of the Port Talbot boy’s long career and surely the best. It could yet prove the most important, too, after Oldham’s late surge came to nothing. Both Knight and Robinson had tantrums when they were substituted, but this was a day when the mood lifted in the Swansea camp. Automatic promotion hopes were officially extinguished this weekend, but the mouth is watering again nevertheless at the prospect of Southend’s visit. The team bus mysteriously disappeared to leave Jackett’s squad loitering on an Oldham pavement for half an hour or so on Saturday evening.
SOUTH WALES EVENING POST
Pictures To Follow | Click Here To Share Your Views On The Game
RATE THE PLAYERS
|
