A sunny day out in Swansea

[......and Smith must score. 1,341]

Just got back from the long haul to Wales.

It all seemed promising as we passed Birmingham and the grey drizzle gave way to glorious blue skies. Perhaps this meant we''d have three points in the bag by 5.00pm ? Sadly no.

The first inkling that things might go pear-shaped was arrival at the recommended Park & Ride off Junction 45 of the M4. This turned out to be a large patch of rough wasteland containing around a dozen unofficial traveller caravans with assorted lorries, dogs and horses together with the burnt out remains of what must have been some poor unfortunate''s caravan right by the entrance. It reminded me of all those Norwich Park & Ride places....not !!

As far as I could tell all the vehicles that parked there before the match were still intact afterwards.......

The Liberty Stadium was quite impressive. It''s a bit of a '' kit-type '' stadium but holding around 20,000 it''s about the right size.Today it was about three quarters full. Despite dire internet warnings that all away supporters would probably die we found the stadium and surrounding food and drink places to be very friendly. A Swansea fan on here had mentioned that there were two or three decent places to go to right next to the ground. We ended up in the Harvester restaurant where home and away fans mixed happily ( so thanks Swansea fan ) Inside the ground there was plenty of space for refreshments and the view was excellent thanks to our seats being well set back behind the goal. They could do with a decent sized electronic scoreboard though as the tiny one perched on top of the roof at the other end could only be read with binoculars.

The match itself was all too predictable. A lot of industry from us but all too little danger where it really matters. Swansea were unlucky not to score early on when a shot crashed against the bar and Marshall made one or two good stops but I don''t remember their keeper having to make a decent save. Lee went really close just before they scored their first goal and got a good, if unexpected, equaliser.  It would be good to see Marshall bully his defenders more and call for the ball sometimes as there seems a real lack of communication there resulting in hesitant mistakes. I thought Swansea were trying their best to get Russell wound up which partly worked as he was booked and might well have been sent off later had he not been subbed by Bryan Gunn. Lappin seemed to carry on the poor form shown against Sheff Wed but our centre backs did OK. Cody McDonald  did well when he came on late in the game but in my opinion I thought Croft just shaded MOM, particularly for his runs in the second half.

So here we are once again in the bottom three staring relegation in the face and I think it''s going to take something special for us to stay up now. I''d hoped that we''d get something today as we seem to do better against better teams but it never looked on the cards once their second went in.

We really do need to beat Watford on Monday and get something from the Ipswich and Reading games. I don''t want to take my seat at Charlton knowing that we need a positive result but the way things are going it looks as though I''ll need to be grateful if we''re still in a position to save ourselves by then .........

 

 

 

[William Darby 0]

What were the bogs like?

[gazzathegreat 0]

Thanks for your report Smithy, the commentary made it sound as if we had started well but faded in the second half. Sounded as if Lee had a good game and Shacks was doing his bit at the back. What happened with the penalty?

Of the four remaining games I am more positive about winning at Ipswich than any of the others. Be ironic that, but typical of us.

[canaryfan68 0]

Have to say I don''t think we turned up for the first 15 mins,we just tried to stifle them out without having any idea how to break them down. Russell should have been subbed at half time,our midfield today was very poor and very lack lustre.....and they looked devoid of any confidence!

[......and Smith must score. 1,341]

[quote user="gazzathegreat"]Thanks for your report Smithy, the commentary made it sound as if we had started well but faded in the second half. Sounded as if Lee had a good game and Shacks was doing his bit at the back. What happened with the penalty? Of the four remaining games I am more positive about winning at Ipswich than any of the others. Be ironic that, but typical of us.[/quote]

The penalty was pretty straightforward.

It was at the far end but Doherty tripped Scotland just inside the area. From where we sat it looked just outside but I don''t remember too many protests from our players. Good penalty from Scotland - right down the middle - but his other goal was much better apparently. ( I say apparently as I was fiddling with my mobile phone and missed it - doh ! ).

Somehow I did happen to be watching when Lee scored......

 

 

[Account Closed 0]

..........A sunny day out in SwanseaJust got back from the long haul to Wales...................

Delightful interesting read, particularly so after your traumatic and sickening day - thanks, appreciated,