If only..........

<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">The ecstasy and agony of Kenny's men May 29 2006

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">

 </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Ian Hunt, Western Mail

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 </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">IN the cruellest, harshest way imaginable, it was a match that told the story of <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Swansea</placename> <placetype w:st="on">City</placetype></place>'s incredible season.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">It was sublime, then it was ridiculous. There was ecstasy and then there was agony. There was hope and then there was total and utter despair. 2005-06 down to a tee.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">It was as if some evil force had decreed this one match would encapsulate everything that had been good and everything that had been bad about the previous 48 - and leave the Swans paying the ultimate price for their shortcomings.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">The abiding images of the day? Burly striker Adebayo Akinfenwa reduced to a crumpled heap on the Millennium Stadium turf, inconsolable after missing from the spot during the penalty shoot-out that ended with Barnsley not Swansea clambering aboard the Championship boat.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Andy Robinson, scorer of the goal that had put Kenny Jackett's team 2-1 up, purposefully inflicting more pain on himself by gazing disconsolately at the Barnsley players collecting their medals and spraying champagne around as they rejoiced in their success.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">It should have been remembered for Rory Fallon's spectacular overhead kick that brought <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> level at 1-1 during the first half.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">It should have been remembered for the Robinson strike that Barnsley keeper Nick Colgan embarrassingly allowed to wriggle through his fingers and into the net to give <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> a precious 2-1 lead.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">But it will not be. In the end this League One play-off final simply resembled a smudged reflection of <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city>'s season as a whole.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">All the elements were there: vastly superior in attack and dominant in possession yet worryingly fragile at the back and unable to make the most of the plethora of chances created.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Trawl back through the 2005-06 fixture list and you will find countless examples of <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> being on course for a seemingly-deserved victory only to fritter it away due to defensive malfunctions.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">And here we were again. Having redeemed themselves for allowing an unmarked Paul Hayes to emphatically fire Barnsley in front, not for the first time in the season it was a set-piece that exterminated the precious advantage <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> had so marvellously created.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Without doubt, it was a heart-in-the-mouth kind of moment when skipper Garry Monk conceded a free-kick just 20 yards out and former Swan Daniel Nardiello licked his lips at the prospect of inflicting a killer blow.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">But no-one would have expected Nardiello to be given the freedom to practically pass the ball into the back of the net. An engineer might have condemned the <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> wall as structurally unsound, but it hardly helped that Willy Gueret unsighted himself by standing too much in line with it.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">After that, perhaps it was destined not to be <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city>'s day. Perhaps it was just some kind of cruel fate that, with natural goalscorers Fallon, Robinson and Leon Knight having departed the action, decided the Swans should suffer penalty shoot-out torment.

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 </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">

 </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">As on so many occasions over the season, <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> were much the better team. In Fallon, Knight, Robinson, Akinfenwa, Lee Trundle and Leon Britton, they had much the better attacking players. More skill. More thrust. A damn site more possession.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">This is not to suggest Barnsley had nothing to offer, for the talented feet of Nardiello, Hayes, Marc Richards, Martin Devaney and Brian Howard proved troublesome on occasions for <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city>.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">But the match statistics - <city w:st="on">Swansea</city> had 30 shots compared to <place w:st="on">Barnsley</place>'s 10 - tell their own story.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">As 34,000 crestfallen Swans fans made their way home, a handful of 'if only' moments would have rattled irritatingly through their heads.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">If only Alan Tate had connected properly with a fantastic 90th-minute chance instead of slicing wide.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">If only Trundle had been at his accurate best 22 minutes into extra-time when he ghosted into the box and brilliantly skipped a challenge only to curl his effort a fraction wide.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">If only Akinfenwa had found the top of the net with his spot-kick rather than fire just over the bar after doing a little shuffle in the run-up that he might now regret.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">If only the final act of an often thrilling, sometimes depressing season had not been Colgan diving the right way to keep out Tate's final spot-kick.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">You could go on - shots that Sam Ricketts put just wide of the post in the first half, for instance, or Knight having a second-half effort blocked, or Akinfenwa going close with a super 20-yard strike...

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">The penalty shoot-out must have been unbearable viewing for Swans followers, most of whom were stationed right behind the goal the spot-kicks were being fired towards.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Beaten by all four of <place w:st="on">Barnsley</place>'s brave nominees, Gueret certainly couldn't bear to watch the Liberty Stadium contingent - Trundle, Britton, Akinfenwa, Owain Tudur Jones and Tate - making the lonely walk from the halfway line and giving it a go.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">And, at the moment Colgan completed his progression from villain to hero, Gueret joined his colleagues in sinking dejectedly to the floor as the dream of a second successive <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> promotion was finally extinguished.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Slowly, the realisation sank in that it will be Blackpool rather than <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Birmingham</place></city> next season. Scnuthorpe rather than <place w:st="on">Southampton</place>. <city w:st="on">Chesterfield</city> rather than <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Crystal</placename> <placename w:st="on">Palace</placename></place>.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Hand on heart, no-one could really write Swansea's season off as a failure - even if the lamentable return of six victories from the final 23 matches cost them the chance of avoiding such play-off heartache by securing automatic promotion.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">To get to the League One play-off final just 12 months after escaping League Two smacks of success, even if it won't feel like that for many Swans fans still hurting after Saturday's sobering setback.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">But, for all the talk of putting things into perspective and bouncing back stronger next season, there will still be a nagging sense of what might been had, for instance, Jackett added more strength defensively, either last summer or during the January transfer window.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">What might have been had Knight started more games during Trundle's barren goal-scoring run. Or what might have been had <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> not squandered so many leads over the course of the season.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Things that Jackett will doubtless take into consideration over the summer as he endeavours to make sure <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> learn from their mistakes and have the personnel capable of delivering a top-two finish next season.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">The first phase of his rebuilding programme takes place this week as Jackett decides on the future of out-of-contract quartet Roberto Martinez, Adrian Forbes, Kevin Austin and Brian Murphy.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Then it will be a case of making adjustments - maybe major, maybe minor - in specific areas to make sure <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> are a League One force to be reckoned with in 2006-07.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><city w:st="on"><place w:st="on"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Swansea</span></place></city><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New""> ended the season with the best set of strikers in the division. The challenge now is for the club to match that at the other end of the pitch with

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">the best set of defenders.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Otherwise Akinfenwa, Robinson and the rest could be haunted by those heart-breaking play-off final images for some time to come.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Roll on next year.

</span></p>

 

30 Shots ....

25 of them were **** ones from Trundle when he missed by 20 yards.</p>

I think we created far better chances than they did , and with more composure in front of goal would have won the game in Normal time.</p>

 

--- -

nt

 

Chance count

Yeah, I don't know where they keep getting that figure from. They did have chances, but not that many! Apart from their goals:
1st half
A couple off-target long-rangers that were side netters
Knight hitting post dunt count, it was offside
Colgan saves on line at end of 1st half, Hassell gets booked
2nd half and ET
Tate slices wide
the Trundler passes wide in extra time

Anything else I've either forgotten, or were speculative long rangers.

 

RE: Chance count

i'd also give them trundles shot across goal, colgan may have been able to leave not sure and reids block from the little ***** knight... that makes 2 goals and 3 shots on target, everything else missed, whether it was a hit and hope or a miss hit from six yards

 

Our good chances

Us:
Howard's shot saved my Gueret early on
McPhail header cleared off line
Reid header bouncing down and over
Anymore?

I reckon thats about it to be fair. Though we did have some good spells of general pressure as well. They did have more chances, but not by the margins we're hearing. Anyone would think they pished on us all game.

 

RE: Nardi almost getting a foot to McPhails ball in

Oh aye, forgot that one. See, we weren't too bad!

 

if only they could beat the Barnsley! haha