Match Report

 Swansea 1-0 Hartlepool

Match Report - Paul Nicholas, Match Photos - Andrew Thomas

More Match Photos from Gary Martin

With winter temperatures getting ever closer, a crowd of just under 11,500 turned out to see this rearranged game reflecting far more on the standard of recent performances than the Swans’ 4^th place in the League.




 Martinez selected a 4-5-1 formation with the hope that the two wide midfield players would support the lone striker. 

De Vries
Rangel
Monk
Lawrence
Painter
Anderson
Britton
Bodde
Pratley
Robinson
Scotland. 

Early exchanges were even although the Hartlepool players were far more physical in the challenge and I felt the referee was a little lenient in how he treated some of the tackles. 

The formation that the Swans played didn’t seem to be having the effect that Martinez had probably hoped.  Scotland was a lone runner up front, and although Anderson was showing good pace out right, the combination of him and Robinson is support of Scotland was not working. 

Bodde had some nice touches in the first half, and Painter and Rangel were fairly competent both in defence and attack. 



Pratley showed a little more determination going forward than he has on times, but for all these efforts the Hartlepool goalkeeper was not tested once in the first half.  Compare this to Dorus, who in addition to making one fine save when he finger tipped the ball onto the crossbar, sprinted to the edge of the area and spread his body to defuse another dangerous situation. 

Once again, we were finding it difficult to break down a stubborn team from the bottom half of the division, and on occasions giving them too much room and opportunity to play the ball around and gain confidence in their own game. 

The crowd had gone fairly quiet as the half progressed with the notable exception of a man in the west lower who shouted abuse for a solid 45 minutes probably as part of his anger management training. 

Half time arrived and it was an all to familiar position in home games for this current season.  The chance of going top was maybe too much of an expectation to carry through. 

The game was certainly an improvement on the last home encounter with Huddersfield, but the outcome wasn’t looking any more assured. 



 

It was more of the same in the second half.  Anderson, who had received a knock early in the game was replaced by Butler, and that did remove probably our most potent threat up front.  Bodde faded a little and was eventually booked – although he had lived on the edge a little with his antics and after ball niggles. 

The referee decided to colour the game a little in the 2^nd half and cards seemed to fly for many reasons, including Pratley’s swallow dive on the edge of the box. 

Monk and Lawrence at the back had reasonable games in defence but with their ability to head a ball away from goal, you’d think they could transport that skill to the other end of the field when we win corners.  Not so – and the crowd’s excited chants at the winning of every corner seemed ill placed given our inability to do anything with them. 




Bussy replaced Scotland on 80 minutes, and 2 minutes later the Swans went one up with a fine strike by Rangel.  After the obligatory hugs and kisses, it was back to the reality of having to defend this slender lead for the remainder of the 90 minutes plus stoppage time, and the crowd were certainly kept on edge for this time.  One more superb save by De Vries kept the points in the bag, and his performance should have earned him the man of the match award.  However, that was handed to Rangel – what a difference a goal makes. 

So it was back to winning ways at home, but still only 7 goals in 8 games at the Liberty.  Top of the division on goal difference, even after three mediocre displays, and the man in the lower west is possibly still standing at his seat waving his arms in the air from left to right, singing away merrily.  If only the players realised what a goal does for anger management, then maybe they could see the merit in scoring a few more.

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Swansea: De Vries, Rangel, Lawrence, Monk, Painter, Britton, Bodde, Pratley (Duffy 71), Robinson, Anderson (Butler 53), Scotland (Bauza 80). Subs Not Used: Tate, Orlandi.

Booked: Pratley, Bodde, Painter, Bauza.

Goals: Rangel 82.

Hartlepool: Budtz, Nolan, Nelson, Antwi , Humphreys, McCunnie, Boland (Foley 86), Brown, Sweeney, Moore, Barker (Porter 72). Subs Not Used: Elliott, Monkhouse, Gibb.

Booked: Boland, McCunnie.

Att: 11,421

Ref: Iain Williamson (Berkshire).

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