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Peterborough 2-2 Swansea City
Match Report by Peter and Bethan Charles
In the event both sides got precisely what they deserved from this uneven encounter in the gloom of London Road today. Some Swans fans might point to our domination in the first half but it was our inability to turn this possession into clear cut chances which ultimately proved our downfall, allied of course to some shaky defending under pressure and some rather inexplicable team selection at kick off.
Indeed it was the unexplained absence of Craig Beattie which saw Pintado leading the line with a midfield of Butler (left), Van Der Gun (right), Orlandi, Pratley and Lopez behind him. Suspension and injury to Tate and Monk saw our defence take on a Latino look, with Rangel, Bessone and Serran lining up alongside Captain Williams, with Dorus in goal.
The opening exchanges, and indeed almost the entire first half, were completely dominated by the patient passing play of the Swans. Indeed, this reporter noted only one attack of note from the home side during the entire half - which was easily cleared for a corner - on 25 minutes. For our own part there were long range efforts from Butler and a deflected shot from Orlandi which might have tested Lewis in the home goal. Van Der Gun also tried his luck from range, but his effort was a weak one, which typified the rather lame nature of much of our shooting throughout. There were, however, some fine passing moves as we strove to work an opening, mainly through the neat interplay of Van Der Gun, Pratley and Orlandi down our right side. From one such move Bessone fired in a superb left foot cross which just evaded Pintado; and from two moves down our right side, Butler delivered quality balls into the box which we failed to convert. From a short corner Pratley had a shot blocked and from the following corner the ball skidded across the home six yard box again with no intervention from any Swans player. It had been a half of patient, controlled passing, orchestrated by Lopez from deep, Pratley further forward and particularly Van Der Gun with his incisive running, but in which we had failed to create any clear cut chances - clearly our evolving Achilles Heel for this season. As the half time whistle blew we felt the points were there for the taking, but equally suspected that we would see a more effective home side after this break.
We started the second half in similar vein - an early shot from Butler almost being turned in by Pintado (who characterised the entire game by being just a fraction too late for everything). A long range effort from Lopez followed which was easily saved by Lewis, but then suddenly the home side sparked into life. The announcement of their entry into the game came from their only effective attacking ploy up to that point - a long throw - which we struggled to clear, and which Whelpdale hooked in from Posh's first effort on goal in the entire match on 54 minutes.
The shock of being behind in a game which we had dominated seemed to paralyse the Swans players, whilst naturally spurring on their hosts, who now attacked in waves - egged on by their suddenly enlivened crowd. For the next 25 minutes the Swans were outplayed as the home side surged forward for the kill, their midfield snapping into tackles and starving us of possession. Soon after the goal, Dorus was called upon to make an excellent save to keep us in the game and from the rebound we gratefully scrambled the ball wide. And again on 68 minutes, another excellent save from Dorus denied Mackail-Smith in a one-on-one situation. Sousa tried to shake things up, replacing Butler, Van Der Gun and Pratley with Dyer, Cotterill and Trundle. Several commentators around me wondered why it was not the tiring Lopez and now ineffective Orlandi who made way, but only Sousa can answer that. As it was, the game slowly began to turn back in our direction. Trundle and Cotterill immediately linked well on our left and Cotterill delivered the first of several excellent crosses into the box - sadly with only Pintado as our target-man, there was little chance of any being converted.
When our equalizer came it was somewhat out of the blue. The ball was threaded through to Trundle, whose movement had begun to cause some concern in the home defence. Receiving the ball with back to goal, Trunds rolled back the years by dancing across the penalty area, evading three players (Pintado being one of them) in order to fashion a shot, which he dragged immaculately into the corner, leaving Lewis stranded. It was a great goal, which barely looked like coming. It sparked a remarkable last few minutes. Suddenly it was the Swans who were now finding space and surging forward for the winner, with Cotterill and Dyer testing the home side severely down their flanks. On 92 minutes the travelling Jacks were sent into ecstasy with an almost carbon copy goal - again Trundle received the bal just inside the area with back to goal, but this time he need fewer touches before turning and firing a low shot into the corner.
It seemed that we had rescued the win which should have been secured earlier; but sadly we contrived to blow two points. Trundle lost possession under the challenge of two players deep in Posh territory - the ball was played up towards our penalty area and a couple of missed tackles later the ball was skidded across our goal, evading a weak attempt to intercept from Serran, and easily turned home by McLean. It was a goal which the home side deserved on the strength of their second half efforts - but it also showed that there may be more defensive frailties than our current goals against column is revealing. In the end we could not decide if it was a point lost or a point won - but it proved that there is work to be done if we are seriously to threaten the play-offs.
DeVries - 7 Generally sound, but was caught out by the long throw for the first goal
Rangel - 6 Solid and got forward well, but failed to delivery any telling balls into the box
Bessone - 7 as above, but some good delivery, particularly before the break
Serran - 6 Generally sound but some panicky moments
Williams 7 - led the defence well, but could have driven the team on to more before the break
Van Der Gun - 7 some excellent wing play before fading
Butler - 7 As above before getting a knock
Pratley - 6 energetic but not his best game
Lopez - 6 Kept things ticking over from deep but failed to find a killer pass
Orlandi - 7 Effective before the break but anonymous when the game degenerated into a scrap
Pintado - 5 Poor touch, no pace and no goal threat.
Dyer - 6 Some nice touches without the killer ball
Cotterill - 7 Some excellent movement and some quality delivery
Trundle 8 (MOM) - Two fine goals to cap an excellent impact performance from the bench
The conditions did not help our style of play today, with a sticky surface and a narrow pitch cramping our fluent playing style - it sometimes felt like a return to league two days. But nonetheless we appeared to beat ourselves in the first half - perhaps the guile and tenacity of an Allen or a Britton would have made the difference, but these two warmed the bench throughout; and maybe Beattie would have connected with one of those crosses which Pintado could only wave an optimistic leg towards. In the end it was the brilliance of one player who turned it round for us, when in fact we should have had enough as a team to have put Posh away comfortably. Lets hope that we will look back at this scrambled point with satisfaction - particularly if it sets us off on another fine run of results.
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