Match Report

Kenny Jackett came back to the Liberty and denied Roberto Martinez's team their record equalling run of unbeaten games with a 2-1 victory.



Roberto Martinez was once more forced to put out a makeshift defence with Marcos Painter, Dennis Lawrence and Garry Monk all missing and Kris O'Leary once more forced to play what has become an unfamiliar position for him in the heart of the defence.

Side - De Vries, Rangel, Tate, O'Leary, Austin, Butler, Britton, Bodde, Pratley, Robinson, Scotland. Subs- Burgin, Way, McDonald, Bauza, Brandy.

The large crowd, swelled by 200 Den Haag fans, was rocked as Millwall snatched a dramatic opening goal after just 28 seconds. The Swans defence failed to clear their lines but there looked little danger as Ali Fuseini lifted a cross to the far post. It looked a keepers ball but Dorus de Vries stayed on his line leaving Kris O'Leary to deal with Lewis Grabben. O'Leary tried a ridiculous overhead kick and missed and Grabben was able to head unchallenged past a static Dorus de Vries to put Millwall ahead.



The crowd were right behind the Swans and did their best to lift them. Darren Pratley and Ferrie Bodde both had chances, but Millwall almost grabbed a second when Gary Alexander turned a near post cross goal ward and was unlucky for the ball to hit Dorus de Vries.

Kenny Jackett would know better than most that Swans would be vulnerable at the back and he had inspired his team to play in a manner that belied their League position. They worked incredibly hard to close down the Swans midfield and provide numbers for their counter attacks.

In particular they seemed to be targeting Kev Austin in the left back spot giving him a torrid time with man after man looking to take him on out wide.



Darren Pratley looked way of his best and the best of the chances fell his way but he lacked any sort of composure in front of goal.

By half time Swans had shown a lot of huff and puff but little by way of quality. The defence was at sixes and sevens with Kris O'Leary in particular having a poor half. In midfield Ferrie Bodde and Darren Pratley were way off their best and Jason Scotland was being closed down very quickly in attack.

The second half saw Millwall sitting back more and inviting Swans to attack. Swans seemed reluctant to throw people forward which for me was highlighted with a free kick 40 yards out that Andy Robinson took. Only Tom Butler and Jason Scotland were ahead of the ball, with Ferrie Bodde, Darren Pratley and Leon Britton all behind the ball.



Ferrie Bodde did hit one terrific shot that Rhys Evans in the Millwall goal could only parry, the ball fell straight into the path of Darren Pratley who looked odds on to score but ballooned the ball over from 10 yards out. That apart, Swans were not putting the pressure on the Millwall goal that you would have expected.

On 63 minutes Roberto Martinez pulled off the out of sorts Kris O'Leary for Fabien Brandy and switched to 3-5-2. Alan Tate looked amazed and sort clarification from the bench a couple of times holding up 3 fingers to confirm the change of formation. With Millwall sitting deeper and rarely attacking with more than two men, this should not have proved a problem but on 69 minutes Alan Tate and Kev Austin conspired to gift Millwall a second.

A hopeful ball from his own half by full back Andy Frampton should have been cut out by Alan Tate. He tried to chest the ball back to his keeper 35 yards out and only managed to put the ball into the path of the excellent Jay Simpson. He found himself one on one with Kev Austin and there was only going to be one winner as Simpson rounded Austin and bundled the ball home past a once again flat footed Dorus de Vries.



Swans bounced straight back form the kick off and Fabien Brandy was upended in the box by Ali Fusieni and Jason Scotland slotted the penalty home to give the Swans the platform to get something out of the game in the last 20 minutes.

The Swans once more tried to up the pace but with Jason Scotland not able to hold the ball up for any length of time and the midfield never really getting going, Swans never really looked likely to break down the resolute Millwall defence.

Guillem Bauza replaced Darren Pratley for the last 10 minutes.

So Swans terrific winning run at home comes to an end and the unbeaten run comes to an end just one game short of the record.

Roberto's gamble of not bringing in an emergency loan signing at centre half or left back backfired tonight.



Finally, just a word about the referee Mr Stroud tonight. I thought he was awful. He failed to protect players from challenges from behind at all. The Millwall centre halves hit Jason Scotland from behind time and again. Sometimes Mr Stroud would give a free kick but more often ignore the incident.

Millwall were trying to run the clock down from the off and Mr Stroud didn't take any action on this until he booked keeper Rhys Evans in injury time.



Finally, Millwall striker Gary Alexander. He hacked down Rangel Angel from behind early on, kicked the ball away in the second half, committed about 7 free kicks in the game and verbally abused the referee's assistant late on and somehow managed to end the game without a yellow card.


Ratings

De Vries 5- Way, way off his best.

Rangel 6 - Still some way of his form a few months back.
Tate 6 - Did really well for most of the game and undoes all his good work with some crazy defending.
O'Leary 3 - Not the answer at centre half. Unlikely to ever play there again for us.
Austin 4 - Offered little going forward and looked slow in defence.

Butler 6 - Never stopped trying but little end product.
Britton 7 - Just about MOM for never stopping.
Bodde 5 - Not his usual influence.
Pratley 5- Not his night and typically all the best chances fell to him.
Robinson 6 - As with Tom Butler, lots of endeavour but little end product.

Scotland 5 - Not helped by a weak referee but didn't really trouble Millwall's back line.

Subs-

Brandy 5- Won a penalty but did very little else.
Bauza - Only on a few minutes.




Swansea: De Vries, Austin, O'Leary (Brandy 64), Tate, Rangel, Bodde, Britton, Pratley (Bauza 85), Robinson, Butler, Scotland.
Subs Not Used: MacDonald, Way, Burgin.

Goals: Scotland 73 pen.

Millwall: Evans, Senda, Frampton, Robinson, Whitbread, Dunne (Bakayogo 85), Grabban, Fuseini, Laird, Alexander, Simpson.
Subs Not Used: Edwards, Smith, Martin, Savage.

Goals: Grabban 1, Simpson 70.

Booked: Frampton, Simpson, Evans.

Att: 15,561

Ref: Keith Stroud (Hampshire).

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