Swansea 1 Wolves 1

Full report now online thanks to Murton Jack.

A much improved performance saw Swansea City play out a 1-1 draw with Championship side Wolves at The Liberty Stadium. Kenny Jackett made two changes from the starting line up against Carmarthen, with Lee Trundle & Kev Austin dropping to the bench, being replaced by Leon Knight & Izzy Iriekpen respectively. The starting line up looked like this:

Willy

Tate- Izzy- Monk (c)- Williams

Robinson- Pratley- O’Leary- McLeod

Fallon- Knight

Swansea made a brilliant start when they won a corner on the left- hand side. Robinson sent the ball in and although Fallon's first effort was cleared, the ball was sent back in towards Fallon who stooped low to head the ball past Wolves keeper Matt Murray.

Swansea continued to dominate, with Leon Knight flashing a shot just wide of Murray's post from the left hand side of the area. Then from an almost identical position on the right, Knight forced a decent save from the keeper and another corner.

But from almost their first attack, Wolves equalised through Welsh defender Rob Edwards. A cross from the Wolves right was flicked on twice inside the area, before it found Edwards on the six-yard line who headed home via Willy Gueret's post.

Long range efforts from Kevin McLeod & Alan Tate flew well over the bar, and the score remained 1-1 at half time. The first- half performance had been a great improvement on the one at Richmond Park on Tuesday, and the Swans were probably unfortunate to only be drawing.

This time Jackett only made one half time change, with Shaun McDonald replacing Kevin McLeod, but with Andy Robinson picking up an injury after only a few minutes of the second-half and making way for Lee Trundle, the team looked like this for the majority of the half:

Willy

Tate- Izzy- Monk(c)- Williams

Pratley- O'Leary- McDonald

Knight- Fallon- Trundle

The Swans struggled to adapt to the new formation, and the game became very scrappy for a while. There were very few chances in the second half, with the main talking points being altercations between the opposing players. Izzy had to be separated from the Wolves centre forward, Tom Williams twice squared-up to a Wolves player after being caught late, and Leon Knight exchanged shoves with the right-back. Fortunately, the ref was sensible and kept his cards in his pocket, and attempted to calm the situation.

Andy Oakes & Kev Austin replaced Willy Gueret & Izzy Iriekpen with twenty minutes to go. Steven Watt & Bayo Akinfenwa were left on the bench for the duration of the game.

Shaun McDonald nearly stole the game in the last minute, when he ran past two Wolves defenders, before thundering a left-foot shot towards the goal. The shot beat Murray in the Wolves goal, but came back off the joint between the crossbar and post.

In terms of individual performances, the defence looked much more solid, although we did concede another goal after failing to deal with a cross. Tom Williams was much more impressive at left-back, making runs up the flank and delivering crosses which caused some problems, although a doubt still remains over his temperament.

Pratley started well but drifted out of the game, and McLeod & Robinson weren't very involved before their substitutions. Knight & Fallon linked up well in the first half, but both Knight & Trundle looked uncomfortable in the wide positions of the front three. Shaun McDonald was impressive when he came on, full of energy and caused the defence a few problems with his running.

There was a great improvement in all aspects of the performance from Carmarthen, and although there is still more to come, the Swans look to be starting to find some sharpness.

Swansea City: Gueret, Tate, Iriekpen, Monk �, Williams, Robinson, Pratley, O'Leary, McLeod, Fallon, Knight. Subs: Austin, Watt, Trundle, Akinfenwa, MacDonald, Oakes.
Wolves: Murray, Clyde, Clapham, McNamara, Craddock, Edwards, Rosa, Davies, Frankowski, O'Connor, Jones. Subs: Little, Oakes, Gleeson, Riley, Bennett, Salmon, Finkler.

Ref: Ceri Richards
Asst-refs: A Boore, E King.
4^th official: D Aidie (repl Richards at half-time).

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