Match Report |
Coventry City 0-1 Swansea City | |
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Coventry City 0-1 Swansea City A welcome three points for the Swans at the Ricoh today, even though the performance never came close to the heights of last season and the opposition were of journeyman quality at best. Nonetheless, Sousa and the team will be delighted to bag their first three points and the fans will be pleased with some welcome signs that there may well be better to come.  The Swans continued with their bold, if semi-enforced, selection policy. Chad Bond had the change to make an impression up front as he was selected to play just behind Dobbie. Britton and Orlandi formed the central midfield two with Gower and Dyer at right and left either side. The defence had a familiar ring, with Rangel at right back, Tate at left back, Williams and Monk in the centre and DeVries in goal. The Swans had the better of the opening exchanges, looking to play their intricate passing game from the off, though it tended to be rather too ponderous and tight to create any serious threat – a problem which persisted throughout the first half. On 3 minutes Dyer had penalty shout when he appeared to be bundled over after wriggling into the box, but his claims were waved away. And on 5 minutes some neat interplay between Dyer and Orlandi set up a shooting chance for Dobbie, but his shot was blocked. The first riposte from the home side came on 10 minutes when Tate allowed a low cross to be delivered from our left side only for the somewhat lumbering Leon Best to sidefoot wide. The first serious chance of the game arose on 12 minutes and came from what proved to be Coventry’s best attacking option of the match – the long throw-in (come on Chris Coleman, the Swans gave up that malarkey 15 years ago!). On this occasion the bullet throw evaded our centre halves and on first bounce leapt up to strike Orlandi on the hand. The referee seemed in no doubt about the intent and signalled a penalty, which Sammy Clingan scuffed wide in a moment of Bayo-standard penalty awfulness – much to the delight of the vocal visiting fans.  Thereafter the first half largely deteriorated. Coventry wanted to play like an away side, hitting us on the counter, but we wouldn’t play ball and the match became a rather tentative stand-off. A few half chances came and went, with Best heading lamely at DeVries and Dobbie scuffing a low shot at their keeper. We produced a neat move on 27 minutes when Gower struck a low free kick into the path of Bond, whose low strike had plenty of venom but flew straight into the keeper’s arms. On 37 minutes we produced another intricate passing move, with Dyer as always involved, the ball finding its way to Bond who couldn’t quite fashion a shot on goal before the ball was nicked away. Either side of this Tate and Britton picked up bookings for blatant hauls-back on opponents, on both occasions because we had given the ball unnecessarily away in midfield – Sousa will know that ball retention will need to improve greatly if we are to emulate the standards of last season. There was a brief flurry from the home side in the later stages of the half, with Clinton Morrison heading well over after a typical far post header was delivered across our goal mouth; and Michael McIndoe had a low effort easily smothered by Dorus. In the final minute of the half, Orlandi got himself into a wide position and delivered an excellent curling ball onto the forehead of Bond, whose rather disappointing effort flew wide. There was a feeling at half time that the game was there for the taking if only we could up the tempo; and after the break it was clear that the Swans had received a bit of Sousa rocket, as we suddenly upped the pace of our game considerably. Dyer in particular was like a man possessed, flying across the pitch and leaping into (mostly well timed) challenges to continuously unsettle the opposition. In fact it was his energy, along with that of the tireless Leon Britton as our midfield engine, that characterised the second half. In fact for the first twenty minutes after the break we largely dominated possession, producing a series of intricate passing moves, none of which seemed had the cutting edge at the finish – in fact we were occasionally guilty of trying to walk it in rather than taking on the early shot. On 59 minutes, in particular, Dyer was at the heart of another neat move, which culminated in Gower dragging a shot wide. Coventry hustled and bustled in response and managed to deliver the odd ball into the box, but never looked like they had the guile to break us down and this period of the game certainly belonged to us.  We finally got our reward for this on 68 minutes. A Gower corner was half cleared back into his path; when he redelivered into the box, Dyer responded with an acrobatic overhead kick which clattered the home cross bar. From the rebound Ashley Williams showed excellent composure to drill the ball into the corner of the net A well worked goal which also featured some of the good fortune we had been missing. The visiting fans went wild while the rather passive home contingent seemed not particularly bothered.  The remainder of the game saw the Swans largely playing as much possession football as possible in order to draw the sting out of the home side, which we managed to do with some comfort. The best chances for Coventry came from set pieces. Two free kicks were drilled harmlessly at our defensive wall and several crosses were handled by a Dorus and the defence without too much difficulty. There were a few flutters in the last moments as the home team pressed forward, but we maintained our composure well and never really looked like conceding an equaliser. At the final whistle the 2000 or so visiting Jacks gave the team a rapturous reception; the relief, for players managers and supporters alike, was clearly evident. Player ratings: DeVries – 8 Positive and solid under the high ball. Rangel – 7 Some good forward running and solid at the back Tate – 6 An Ok performance but his possession was ragged at times Williams – 8 generally solid and grabbed a nice goal Monk – 7 Tenacious and solid though there was no-one to test him for pace today Dyer – 8 (and MOM) skilful, tenacious and committed performance, particularly after the break Gower – 6 not his most influential game; failed to make things happen Britton – 8 A workhorse throughout, keeping the game flowing Orlandi – 7 A promising performance if languid at times Bond – 7 Lacks the big match experience but performed useful link role throughout Dobbie – 7 Movement was good, but needs to work himself some more shooting chances. Morgan – One decent strike on goal but otherwise spent most of his time defending from the front. Lopez – working his way back to fitness; showed some good touches but needs to stop trying to goad the opposition and winding up the ref. Pintado – briefly on for the last few minutes. Some encouragement then for the army of Swans fans who supported their team really well today with mainly positive vocal backing. It was a performance that showed some occasional flashes of what we are capable of and was certainly carved out in the style of quality football even if we fell short of the standards we aspire to. The attack seemed rather toothless once again and it is clear that at least one quality striker needs to be added to this squad – something which we already knew of course. The midfield worked hard enough but was crying out at times for the energy of a Pratley, the steel of a Bodde and the guile of an Allen – all of which will be added in the near future. The defence was comfortable today but such was Coventry’s total lack of pace and finesse that our back five will know they will face far stiffer tests in the weeks to come. But let’s take this as a positive – our win tally is up and running and Sousa’s barmy army can rightly celebrate a deserved and hard-earned three points against a previously unbeaten side. Would you like your match report printed here? Email it to the site straight after the match. Click here to return to the main page. |
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