Match Report

Johnstone's Paint Trophy Tuesday 4th September 2007 Attendance 5,721

Roberto Martinez decided to shuffle the pack tonight following Saturday's defeat to Doncaster. While the goalkeeper and defence remained the same the entire midfield was changed and up front Darryl Duffy kept his place as Bussy replaced Jason Scotland. The starting 11 was as follows

The Swans created the first chance of the game when Duffy had a shot blocked which led to the ball running to Bussy who crossed in for Anderson who saw hit shot saved by Chris Day in the Millwall goal. Thomas Butler then made one of many attacking runs before picking out Duffy who also saw his shot saved. Angel Rangel was then replaced by Kevin Amankwaah in what seemed like an odd move but it was probably so the club avoided a fine over not playing enough of the first team. The Swans then took the lead on fifteen minutes when Bussy's shot was blocked and Butler crossed the loose ball for Anderson to score his 2nd of the season. Millwall responded by equalising 4 minutes later when a cross from the left hand side by Scott Barron found striker Ben May who completely unmarked to shoot past Dorus De Vries.

The Lions then made a sub by bringing on Preston Edwards for Chris Day. The game then dyed down slightly until a stray kick by Dorus fell to Jay Simpson who could only fire the ball straight back at the Dutch goalkeeper. The Swans managed an attack of their own a few minutes later when Butler picked out Duffy after a long run only for him to be tackled by Paul Robinson when just about to pull the trigger. Millwall then made their 2nd sub by taking off Alan Dunne and replacing him with Tom Kilbey. The last major event of the half was Butler hitting the bar with his left foot following him beating a couple of players before cutting in to have the shot.

Millwall made their final change before the restart by bringing on Gary Alexander for goal scorer Ben May. The Swans started the half as they ended the 1st by creating more chances with efforts from Duffy and Bussy coming to no avail. The men from South London responded to this by taking the lead on 52 minutes with a well worked goal involving Danny Senda and Scott Barron before Jay Simpson hit the ball across De Vries into the far corner. Martinez responded to this by bringing on Pratley and Scotland for Bussy and Craney. The change paid instant dividends when following another mazy run by Butler, Scotland fired a shot with his left foot into the bottom corner to make the score 2-2. The influential Butler then set up Duffy for another chance but his delicate chip went just wide of the goal.

The Swans created another chance when Scotland superbly chested the ball before sending Anderson through on goal but his shot was well saved by the goalkeeper. The swans then finally went back in front from a throw out to De Vries who found Anderson who ran around 40 yards before an excellent disguise pass to Duffy whose cross was turned into his own net by Zak Whitbread. The Lions did little after this to get back into the game other than a free kick which hit the wall from Danny Senda. The last major event of the game saw Jamie O'Hara sent off for fouling Anderson after he'd been sent on a run from a throw by De Vries. So the game finished 3-2 and a deserved win for the Swans despite making it hard for themselves as usual.

De Vries 7 apart from 1 bad kick his distribution was excellent
Rangel 7 didn't put a foot wrong in 12 minutes
Lawrence 6 improvement on the last couple of games
Monk 7 another decent performance from the captain
Austin 7 solid performance from Big Kev tonight
Butler 9 superb display and unlucky not to score
Craney 6 didn't really impose himself on the game
O'Leary 6 gave his all but wasn't a great performance
Anderson 8 terrorised defence with his pace
Duffy 7 best display of season but still needs a goal badly
Bussy 6 tried hard but wasn't much of a threat

Subs

Amankwaah 7 quite quiet but had a decent game
Pratley 6 needs to stop passing the ball backwards all the time
Scotland 8 another goal and excellent lay off to create chance for Anderson

Not too pleased with the first half performance


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Swansea: De Vries, Rangel (Amankwaah 12), Lawrence, Monk, Austin, Anderson, O'Leary, Craney (Pratley 58), Butler, Bauza (Scotland 58), Duffy. Subs Not Used: Knight, Robinson.

Booked: Monk 90

Goals: Anderson 16, Scotland 64, Whitbred o.g. 78

Millwall: Day (Edwards 21), Seneda, Frampton, Robinson, Whitbred, Dunne (Kilbey 42), Hackett, Barron, May (Alexander 46), O'Hara, Simpson. Subs Not Used: Bakayoga, Fuseini.

Booked: Hackett 62, Whitbread 90

Sent off: O'Hara (90)

Goals: May 20, Simpson 53

Att: 5,721

Ref: Andy Penn (West Midlands)

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