Swansea ended 2018 with a come from behind 2-2 draw against Wigan in a feisty encounter at The Liberty Stadium.
Match Report by Ross Power – @rosspow10
Graham Potter once again tinkered with formation and personnel bringing in Cian Harries, Wayne Routledge and Courtney Baker-Richardson in a 3-5-2 formation with Routledge and Daniel James deployed as wing backs with Kyle Naughton on the bench and Connor Roberts not in the 18.
It was a surprising formation from Potter and one in which from the outset the Swans looked totally uncomfortable in as they were intent on aiming long balls towards Baker-Richardson who was often isolated. There was little evidence of the passing game which the Swans have tried to implement this season.
It was no surprise that Wigan settled into the contest and just 10 minutes into the game a mistake from Carter-Vickers got his team into difficulty and led to a poor challenge from Routledge on Kal Naismith with the referee pointing to the spot.
Joe Garner converted the penalty and Swansea struggled to recover as James and Routledge continued to look out of place in their fullback rolls and the team looked a shambles.
Wigan were starting to enjoy themselves and had some half chances before Naismith was through on goal but put his shot wide with only Mulder to beat.
It looked like a let off for Swansea but Wigan continued to pile forward and after a huge let-off from a corner, Swansea were punished seconds later when a further corner was met by Joe Garner to double the Wigan lead.
A shell-shocked Swansea tried to get back into the game but a combination of Wigan time wasting and some appalling refereeing meant the visitors were able to take the sting out of the game and get to halftime 2-0 in front.
Potter threw on Jefferson Montero and Kyle Naughton for Harries and Baker-Richardson and changed to a 4-2-3-1 to try and get back into it and Swansea looked far more cohesive with Daniel James now looking a real threat every time he got on the ball.
Wigan had now resorted to a combination of cynical fouling and more time wasting neither of which was punished by a hapless referee who was probably the worst I have ever seen.
Despite the possession, Swansea were struggling to create anything clear cut but on the hour they were given a helping hand when Wigan captain Dan Burn headed past his own keeper to bring Swansea back into it.
The Swans were now playing almost exclusively in the Wigan half and Bony was brought on in place of Jay Fulton in a final throw of the dice.
The pressure was rewarded with an equalising goal in farcical circumstances.
A Swansea throw towards McBurnie was flagged offside by the linesman in a moment which summed up their performance and from the resultant corner, Mike Van Der Hoorn volleyed home to level the game.
The final push from Swansea almost resulted in a winner when Carter-Vickers was inches from a tap-in at the far post but overall from 2-0 down a draw was a reasonable result.
