Swansea 4-2 Bournemouth

Swansea City escaped a near shock at the Liberty Stadium as they beat AFC Bournemouth 4-2.

Despite being a lacklustre performance from the Swans, we looked to be heading for an easy victory mid-way through the second half as we took a 3-goal lead against another poor side but the Cherries didn`t give up and gave us a scare by bringing the score back to 3-2 with five minutes to play. Thankfully though Lee Trundle secured the 3 points with the best goal of the game in the last minute.

It was a must win game really for Kenny Jackett and his side after two defeats this week.

Captain Darren Pratley returned to the side after missing the last 2 games with an ankle injury and he lined-up alongside Tudur-Jones in midfield.

The game (hardly) kicked off at awfully slow tempo as it looked like we were watching a training session to begin with. The Swans were far too idle, players were standing still, we were creating no space to create attacks and the defence was even worse.

Bournemouth were just as bad - if not worse though really as their lack of confidence shone through. However, they passed the ball amongst themselves far better than us but it was easy when our defence was giving them plenty of time and space.

Still they found it difficult to create chances in the final third and they were limited to half chances from long distance. Foley went close but was denied by a good save from Gueret while the Cherries also had a good long-range effort go just over.

Thanks to Britton and Williams, we were able to create some chances for our strikers and we took the lead quite surprisingly after just 3 minutes. Trundle struck a low, in-swinging corner and Iriekpen was there to bundle the ball in from a few yards out.



Lee Trundle then went closest in the opening half to doubling our lead. After a good run, he chipped the keeper but his shot rebounded off the post and Fallon`s shot from the rebound went straight to their keeper.

Britton also went close after cutting inside but he blazed his shot over the bar. Fallon also went close twice after meeting some good crosses from Williams and Britton.

Despite being ahead at the break, Jackett must have been disappointed with the poor first half showing.

We needed to kill the game off early in the second and that`s exactly what we thought we had done.



13 minutes after the restart and we doubled our lead. We got the ball out well to the left flank, Williams` attempted cross from Fallon looked to be heading out of play but it dropped inside the post and looked to have crossed the line before Fallon got a touch.



We then made it 3-0 when Trundle`s cross from the left was met by Fallon who got up well headed the ball home to get his second of the game.

We were in cruise control now, well at least we thought we were, and as usual we got complacent and Bournemouth showed excellent attitude to get themselves back in it. Whilst they looked to be heading for a heavy defeat, they still went forward to try and get a goal, and they did with 11 minutes remaining.

Hollands was given acres of space and he scored from around 12 yards out. 7 minutes later and the Cherries reduced the deficit to just a single goal. Another sub, Pitman headed the ball in to make it 3-2.

Bournemouth showed great character and belief it has to be said to get back into the game and we`ve seen it before when we`ve thrown away leads and an equaliser wouldn`t have been all that surprising.

Thankfully though, there was a huge sigh of relief when Trundle got on the scoresheet in the last minute with the best goal of the game. His curling shot from just inside the area took the game to 4-2.

So overall, despite a lacklustre performance we still managed to win and score 4 goals but a side in the top half of the League would have punished us more for such poor defending.



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Alan Tate - Another excellent performance from Tate and he hardly put a foot wrong. Tommy Williams also played well on the opposite flank. "They dominated possession for large parts, contributed to a very good game, but it's goals that count."

"There were six goals but you wouldn't say it was rip-roaring stuff. In fact it was the strangest game I've seen. I thought I'd been transported to a testimonial match.

"Maybe in terms of possession they were the better team. Even at 3-0 up, you never know what can happen in football. But in the end we scored four goals, which we haven't done this season, and we got the three points. They are big positives for me." ''For a side that's struggling, I thought we played some magnificent football at times. I thought we were positive, we created chances and I was so pleased with how we played. I was really chuffed with some of the stuff we played which makes it even worse when you get beaten in the manner in which we lost.

"We gave a goal away in the first couple of minutes and you thought we might have capitulated after that but we didn't. It's mistake after mistake and that's what is costing us at the moment. It doesn't matter how well you play, we can't score four goals every week. I was absolutely delighted and anybody who watched would have said we played some terrific stuff. But it counts for nothing on the night although it's positive in terms of moving forward."

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