JULIAN ALSOP returns to spearhead the Swansea City attack at Hartlepool tomorrow with a ringing endorsement from Bobby Gould. The Wales manager was part of the Radio 5 commentary team at Sunday's derby at Vetch Field and described the big striker as a colossus.

Gould was not referring to the fact that Alsop stands 6ft 4in in his stockinged feet although the front runner's telling contribution as a second-half substitute prompted a suitable response.

"He made a huge difference with his aerial ability," enthused Gould. Alsop was drafted on seven minutes after the interval with Swansea trailing 1-0 and his introduction proved one of the turning points in the match.

Having had a hand in the opening goal, and generally caused havoc in the centre of the Cardiff defence, Alsop now finds himself restored to the front line as Swansea seek to continue their improving League form.

"Julian definitely starts. He is really fired up," said John Hollins. The only concern for the Swansea manager is who to play alongside five-goal Alsop if Steve Watkin does not recover from a sore knee. Watkin was expected to travel today, but with four home matches in 12 days starting with the visit of Wrexham on Tuesday, Hollins will certainly not gamble with his top-scoring striker unless he is 100 per cent fit.

If Watkin is ruled out, Alsop will be partnered by either Tony Bird or Aidan Newhouse, so disappointing in the Cardiff game where he kept his place on the strength of his effectiveness against Millwall.

Swansea have added defender Kristian O'Leary to the squad and also summoned teenager Karl Mounty as cover for goalkeeper Roger Freestone in the absence of injured pair Jason Jones and Carl Thomas.

Despite taking seven points from their last three matches, Swansea acknowledge that they cannot take anything for granted.

"We need to be really sharp. After all the hype and enjoyment in beating Cardiff, it could go horribly wrong if we are not on top of things," admitted Hollins.

JOHN Hollins will not be setting his in-form Swansea City players targets as they embark on a busy December programme which could transform the club into strong Third Division promotion contenders. Despite taking seven points from the last three League matches and booking a place in the second round of the FA Cup the manager believes he would be digging a pit for both himself and his players if he challenged them with goals which went unfulfilled.

‘‘Just look what happened after that marvellous win over Millwall. We went to Barry and it was a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show,’’ said Hollins.

‘‘If I said we aim to be fifth in the League by the end of the year and we go down five places instead you can expect to be shot down by fans and no manager wants to put himself in that position,’’ added the manager. Instead Hollins prefers to plot a steady course with the same ultimate aim in mind. ‘‘The win over Cardiff was extremely encouraging. It showed that we do not need to stick rigidly to 4-4-2 all the time and that the players are comfortable when we need to vary the system.

‘‘That was a huge bonus and has given us another super option which we can take into the months ahead.’’ After the long trek to Hartlepool on Saturday with possibly an unchanged squad Swansea face cup-ties against Wrexham and Stoke before returning to League action with fixtures against Rochdale, Hull, Barnet and Leyton Orient during a busy month.

It’s not inconceivable that Swansea could win three, possibly four of those Third Division fixtures but you won’t hear Hollins shouting the odds from the rooftops.

SWANSEA versus Cardiff. Not exactly a football fixture to get the pulses racing, is it? With the oval ball, maybe. Definitely not with the round one. Unless, of course, you actually come from Swansea or Cardiff, in which case you will be practically hyperventilating.

The Old Firm derby in Glasgow, or its north London equivalent or the famous one on Merseyside are just meaningless kickabouts compared to this. Swansea City v Cardiff City is the mother of all derbies.

On the field it is pretty committed, but in the stands it is positively apocalyptic. After their 89th-minute winner yesterday, the 6,000 Swansea fans were delirious. They jumped and jeered at their rival supporters, caged in behind the goal, chanting "we beat the scum 2-1", instantly forgetting they had been 1-0 down for much of the match. In the past, ugly scenes would have ensued but the police are wise to this now, and were there in force. Beneath the throb of hovering helicopters, they ushered 1,500 stunned Cardiff fans into their waiting coaches and back whence they came.

The essence of this encounter is not so much keeping up with the Jones's, as murdering them. Among the fans, violence is not only possible, it'scompulsory. This is the game's last bastion of regular crowd trouble. It's all John Toshack's fault. If he hadn't rejuvenated Swansea in the late Seventies, the cream of South Wales football would never have met on the same pitch. Cardiff were always a division or two above, but suddenly they were on a par and Swansea were getting the plaudits. The fact that Toshack was a Cardiff boy just added further insult.

Emotions, which ran high throughout the Eighties, boiled over when the two sides met in the FA Cup first round in 1991. Swansea won the match 2-1 and chaos broke out. Supporters showered each other with bricks, stones and metal from a nearby building site and Swansea city centre resembled a Brighton seafront battle in Quadrophenia. Swansea fans took revenge at Ninian Park two years later, just before Christmas. A pitch invasion delayed the start by 40 minutes, and having beaten Swansea 1-0 in the League, they ripped up seats and wood from the stand and went on the rampage. They really meant harm. "It was carnage," remembers one local journalist. "We were ducking in the press box." There were many injuries and arrests. Front page headlines like 'Season of Hatred' and 'Night of Defeat and Destruction' said it all.

For the next four years, visiting supporters were banned from the match at either venue. They were allowed back in controlled numbers last season, but team mascots, Barclay the Bluebird and Cyril the Swan, are banned in case they exacerbate the situation. Yesterday, Cardiff fans wishing to attend the match were obliged to congregate at their own ground by 9am. There they were herded into 40 coaches for the hour's journey west. Police cars and outriders cordoned off all roads and flanked the convoy to allow it to snake its way to Swansea unimpeded. To complete the Orwellian scene, a helicopter escorted the coaches and police guarded bridges and roundabouts. There were pockets of Swansea fans to taunt with "you Jack bastards" en route, but all streets around the ground were closed. The home supporters were already inside, and as the convoy arrived local residents peered nervously through net curtains. Torrents of abuse were exchanged as soon as the visitors were hustled in and the Swansea contingent were soon into a rendition of "Swimaway, a-swimaway" accompanied by breaststroke motions. This is a reference to some Cardiff faithful pitching into the sea one year to escape their Swansea pursuers.

No one is quite sure where this animosity stems from. Cardiff people say Swansea 'Jacks' have a chip on their shoulder and do not actively support the Welsh team. Swansea men see their Cardiff counterparts as privileged and soft. They have a damning way of saying "pathetic" and "tart". They sent some provocative emails to the Cardiff City website last week, with gang threats and warnings to be "tooled up or else". There is still a sad basic bunch who pride themselves on being hard.

Thankfully, the event passed off without major incident. Perhaps the pitiful standard of play helped: the ball spent most of its time in the air. The fans would have been united in their misery but for Swansea's last-minute winner, scored by an Englishman. If Swansea win the return in April, they will be the first team to do the Welsh 'double'. Such is the abrasiveness of this fixture.

"It's a sad state of affairs when it's got to come to this," said a Cardiff fan, dejectedly boarding his coach before being escorted back out of town. "It's a bit primitive really. You must be laughing your socks off in London." That's nothing compared to the ribbing he'll get at work today.