Swansea City came back from a 2-goal deficit to earn a point at home against Bristol Rovers.
The visitors took advantage of a truly awful performance from the Swans in the first half to put themselves into the lead. It could have been 3 or 4 for Rovers at the break as they also hit the woodwork and went close particularly from corner kicks.
Jason Scotland bagged a second half brace though to earn us a well fought point after an excellent and dominant performance in the second period.
Roberto Martinez made no changes from the side that drew 1-1 away at Southend on Saturday.
We started the game off well with an excellent attacking move early on that nearly saw the first goal.
Scotland dummied Bodde`s pass with Pratley oncoming, but he dragged a low shot well wide of the post.
Apart from Bodde`s long range effort which was well saved by the keeper, the 14,600 or so Swansea City fans had very little to cheer about. We were far too slow in possession and we looked content to just pass the ball amongst each other with very little urgency to get forward.
Rovers took the lead after 14 minutes after a defensive mix-up between Lawrence and Tate. Lawrence failed to win the ball, then Tate did with a sliding tackle and Lambert fired a left-footed shot into the left corner, giving De Vries no chance in the Swansea goal.
Trollope`s side had the upper hand and were causing problems for us, especially from set pieces. De Vries was forced into an excellent save from Steve Elliot`s header.
Our only real chance was actually created by the opposition when a Rovers` defended nearly headed a back pass over the goalkeeper.
At the other end, Lambert went close to getting his second of the game but somehow he missed at the far post with a diving header. Then, they hit the bar with a header from a corner. Again our defence were struggling to cope with crosses into the box.
With 8 minutes remaining, the Gas doubled their lead when Disley went clean through on goal. We claimed for offside but Rangel on the far side was keeping him on. The midfielder did well to pass the ball beyond de Vries and into the net.
The ref blew for half time to a chorus of boo`s from the Swans` fans. It was one of our worst performances of the season. Our passing was terrible and our defence were at sixes and sevens.
Thankfully though we bounced back in the second half and completely dominated the remainder of the game. Martinez changed formation to 4-4-2 and he replaced Darren Pratley for Darryl Duffy.
It was a decision you felt Martinez should have gone with from the start as it made a huge impact. 5 minutes after the restart and we got a goal back. The keeper saved Britton`s effort but the ball fell to Scotland, and from a tight angle he rifled the ball home through a crowd of players.
Robinson then went close to getting an equaliser shortly afterwards as his free-kick went just over to hit the roof of the net.
Robinson, Butler and Bodde all tried their luck from long range before Lawrence forced an excellent save from the keeper, tipping the ball over the bar from his header.
We were creating chance after chance and when you felt it wasn`t going to be our day, Scotland fired in a superb goal. He picked the ball on the right hand side, created a bit of space in the box before curling a powerful shot right into the top left hand corner.
It was an magnificent strike to increase his goal tally to 28 for the season.
The Swans move a point closer to promotion but you felt they could have got all three, especially if they played like they did in the second half for the whole game. We bombarded their penalty area, dominated possession and create a hatful of chances to try and get back into the game.
We currently 5 points ahead of Carlisle at the top of the table but they have a game in hand over us. Martinez and his side travel to Hartlepool on Saturday.
Swansea City: de Vries, Rangel, Austin, Lawrence, Tate ©, Butler, Pratley, Bodde, Britton, Robinson, Scotland.
Subs: Duffy, Tudur Jones, Bauza, Way, Knight.
Bristol Rovers: Phillips, Lescott, Hinton, Coles, Elliott, Pipe, Disley, Campbell ©, Lines, Lambert, Rigg.
Subs: Anthony, Williams, Klein-Davies, Walker, Haldane.
Ref: M Dean
Asst-refs: G Beale, R Burton.
4th official: P Armstrong.
Attendance: 15,048 Away: 437
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