Swansea City remain top of League One after a 3-2 victory against Blackpool in front of nearly 14,000 at the New Stadium today.
Jackett named an unchanged side to the one that beat Bournemouth last Tuesday, which meant Monk kept his place on the bench but Forbes was left out completely despite returning to full training after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Blackpool provided a tough game for the Swans. Colin Hendry got his side to keep things tight early on as we were never given much time or space on the ball. However, out of nowhere, Trundle received the ball with his back to goal, he turned and his volley hit the underside of the bar and went in. Hopefully now this would open things up a bit after a 20-minute spell, which didn’t really consist of any goal opportunities.
However, Blackpool got themselves back into it with an equaliser before the break. A lack of communication at the back meant Austin and Ricketts went for the same aerial challenge. Parker took the opportunity and pounced on the loose ball towards Gueret and his low drive went between the Frenchman’s legs and into the net.
Throughout the game, Swansea showed excellent spirit to recover from two equalisers and the first came a minute before half time when Akinfenwa made no mistake with today’s chance from a one on one situation. Leon Britton put him through although the pressure must have been on him at this stage, he kept his cool and slotted the ball home.
Swansea had other chances to increase their lead when Trundle and Britton failed to get onto the end of the crosses from the left while at the other end Blackpool also had a chance with a free header but the player headed the ball into the ground and with a lack of power, Gueret made an easy save.
Jackett would of have been pleased with his strikers in front of goal but the defence again was a worry. Awful defending lead to both of Blackpool’s goals. Their second came after 70 minutes when Donnelly headed home at the far post after the cross took a wicked deflection off Iriekpen.
You always believed though that Swansea could get the winner. In previous games, they have recovered well and quickly and that was the case today as well. A change had to be made and Robinson came on for Bean to add more attacking options to our midfield.
Swansea put the pressure on for the last 20 minutes and it finally paid off when Leon Britton grabbed the winner with a controversial goal. Leon played the ball into Trundle from the right hand side, who was in an offside position as the flag was raised. But Trundle did brilliantly to make no contact with the ball and he managed to shield it away from 2 defenders as it rolled into the far corner. The small amount of travelling fans protested but new rules means the goal rightly stood.
Trundle, McLeod and Ricketts linked up on the left to keep the ball in the opposition’s half to play out the dying minutes. Blackpool’s last chance to get a point came when they were awarded a corner but the defence managed to clear the danger.
