Swansea City got back to winning ways in the best possible way today with a 5-1 thrashing over in-form side, Chesterfield.
Kenny Jackett?s side managed to get only 2 points from the last 3 games and skipper, Roberto Martinez said this was a must win game.
The gaffer made just one change from the side that drew 2-2 with Rotherham last week, Owain Tudur-Jones replaced on loan Marcus Bean in the centre alongside the captain.
I think many of us would have been happy with this decision. Bean has started to improve of late but I feel he still doesn?t do much during games. The young Welsh international came in and offered an attacking option as well as doing some defensive work. He put the game beyond doubt at the end of the first half, following Tate?s cross from the right.
We made the best possible start when Akinfenwa used his pace and strength to gain possession of a Trundle pass when pressurised by a defender and he slotted the ball home.
Lee Trundle made one and then scored one 4 minutes later with a simple header following a corner.
Chesterfield showed throughout the game they were poor defensively but in possession they looked a decent side. Both teams have shown their capabilities of scoring highly but it came down to the fact that Swansea?s defence was much stronger.
10 minutes later Chesterfield got a vital goal as they tried to get back into the game. From a free kick on the right, the cross came in and Blatherwick got ahead of the defence to header into the top corner. There were shouts of offside but the goal stood.
After their goal, the Swans took the foot of the gas a little and were creating fewer chances than at the start of the game. As the half hour approached though, Lee Trundle grabbed his 2nd and Swansea?s third of the game to extend our lead.
Swansea weren?t done for the half just yet as Owain Tudur-Jones came into the side today, replacing Bean and grabbed a goal. We counter attacked and the former Bangor player got on the end of Tate?s cross from the right hand side. The game now was certainly out of range for our visitors but Chesterfield weren?t a side that were going to concede even more goals in the second half.
Trundle?s goal tally is now 14 and no doubt this will attract even more attention from interested clubs. We?ve seen him score some important goals for us but today we also saw an excellent all round performance from the scouser. He told the press he wasn?t too happy with his performances despite scoring frequently but I?m sure he would have been happy with the show he put on for us today.
It would have been a safe bet that it wouldn?t be 7 like against Bristol City as rarely teams will concede a number of goals in both halves.
Lee Trundle went inside and out of his defender and once he had decided he had tucked him up enough times he slotted the ball home to complete his impressive hat trick.
Connor then replaced Akinfenwa after 71 minutes when the game was well won although Chesterfield were trying their best to narrow the margin as their fans made their way to the busses.
This was certainly Swansea showing what they are capable of. At times we did play the long ball route to the strikers but Martinez and Tudur-Jones definitely looks a better approach to the centre of midfield. We passed the ball around well and I?m sure the attendance at the next home game will increase.
One last mention goes to the person who was delighted to see ?Akinrubish? go off for Connor. He also called him that straight after his goal to put us ahead, you just can?t please some fans.
Talk about this match with other fans in our forum here or post a comment at the bottom of the page.
Player Ratings
Willy Gueret 8/10
No problems in goal, and made some excellent saves. Couldn?t do anything for the goal.
Sam Ricketts 7/10
A decent game overall, attacked well.
Kevin Austin 8/10
Solid as a rock!
Izzy Austin 9/10
Same as above. Played it out of defence well despite pressure from their attackers.
Alan Tate 7/10
Attacked well down the right, made some great passes and defended ok.
Kevin McLeod 7/10
Didn?t notice him too much today in the first half, playing over at the far side of the field to where I was. Generally a good game though over the 90 minutes.
Roberto Martinez 8/10
Another excellent performance from the skipper and formed a good partnership with Tudur-Jones in the centre.
Owain Tudur-Jones 9/10
Excellent performance and Bean is unlikely to play again for the Swans as his loan expires after the next game.
Leon Britton 8/10
ran his socks off as ever and contributed well to our attacks.
Lee Trundle 10/10
Best performance of the season by far. Not only did he score 3 and assist 1 but he played superb. See star player above.
Adebayo Akinfenwa 8/10
Has a lot of pace for a big guy and his strength as well helped him gain possession of the ball to score the opener.
Paul Connor
Can?t really give him a score as he was on for 20 minutes and didn?t need to do much as we simply played the ball around, keeping possession.
Manager Rating
Kenny Jackett 10/10 ? Got things spot on for this tough game. Made the right choice for bringing in Tudur-Jones and we looked liked the side earlier in the season. Hopefully we can get another good run of results together.
Opponent Rating
Defensively, they were awful but they looked like a good side when they had the ball. 4-1 at half time and there wasn?t much their manager could do but to the score from increasing even more.
Chesterfield Manager:
”5-1 flattered them. Trundle was a handful today and the fact that he’s come off with a hat-trick shows he was a thorn in our side all afternoon. His runs, his control and finishing was excellent today and we found him hard to handle. But look at the stats – we’ve put more crosses in, had more shots on goal and yet they’ve beaten us five-one. Lee Trundle was the difference between the two sides.”
Swansea Manager:
”The first 45 minutes were as good as we have produced all year,”
”It was a terrific game for the neutrals as well as my point of view because it was really open and there was some good attacking football played.
”It was important for us to put in a performance and we’re obviously pleased with the result and we’ve shown again we can very much compete at this level.”
