CITY 2 SWANSEA CITY 1
With some games already being called off due to the weather, the trip to Leicester for the third round FA Cup tie against Swansea started in driving sleet and snow and as we hit the A47 the snow begun to settle. Would we get there? Then as we passed Uppingham, the snow disappeared and arriving at the City boundary not a sign of bad weather. Phew!
Easily parking off Welford Road (students on hols), not many fellow Foxes fans walking to the Walkers, so indications were already that a poor crowd was expected, even with reduced entry charges, but then again, Swansea are not exactly the most attractive side to raise the numbers at the gate. Difficult to name more than 2 of their players, although their league position, one behind the City, meant they would be no push over, even though a win on the opening day of the season against the Swans was in City’s favour.
The visitors had very good support after a long journey as the number of their coaches outside the ground showed they were looking forward to a good cup run themselves. Without their supporters, would the crowd have reached 5 figures?
Nigel Pearson started with a full strength team indicating the Club’s desire for a good cup run and extra revenue, unlike some of the teams in the Premiership! Two recent wins against the Steel city teams made this an important game after 2 postponements to keep the run going in the league…..
City started well and created the first chance from a Lloyd Dyer cross from the left, but Swansea started to play some good passing football and a Pratley cross from the right went straight through City’s 6 yard box and luckily no player from either side managed a touch.
Swansea’s game plan was obvious with all their players passing the ball around, starting with the keeper to the back four, through a pivot man in mid-field and eventually arriving upfront to a loan striker. No punt upfield for them! Pretty to watch and keep possession but not defence splitting. City found it hard to get the ball at times.
However, in the 9th minute, an impressive looking David Cotterill received the ball just inside the City half on the left, and as City’s midfielders backed away, he decided to shoot from fully 30 yards, the ball ending up in the far corner of the net past Chris Weale’s desperate dive for one of the goals of the round.
This spurred the Foxes players on and a Neilson throw-in caused problems in the Swans box as Oakley’s shot went close. Swansea kept up their passing game even in tight situations across their own penalty area as Fryatt and, to a lesser extent, Howard, tried to intercept.
Wellens lost the ball in midfield, as he sometimes attempts to be too clever when not trying a defence splitting pass, and Pintado tried to emulate Cotterill, but this time the 25 yard shot met Weale’s dive to his right turning the ball around the post for a corner.
Good work by Oakley and Dyer nearly created an opening as City pushed forward for the equaliser. An Andy King effort was brilliantly saved by the Swans keeper Dorus De Vries (now there’s a name from the past!) and the follow up shot was again smothered by the keeper at his near post.
Then City worked the ball down the left in the 39th minute. Fryatt collected the ball, and, for once, decided to pass the ball instead of shooting, and set up Andy King to fire home past De Vries from 12 yards for the equaliser.
Half-time soon arrived with the game evenly matched and would Pearson make any changes after the break to unlock the Swan’s passing game plan and give the City more of the ball to create more goal scoring opportunities? 2-1 either way was agreed.
King was having a good game both in attacking situations and defensively, but Oakley seemed distant to the action and Dyer had few chances for runs down the left. Oakley was cautioned for a tackle and again a poor referee received chants from the Kop of “You don’t know what you’re doing” after he failed to caution the Swan’s tackles with yellow cards.
Dyer was then replaced by Paul Gallagher in the 57th minute and immediately from the left he cut in after another Fryatt pass and tried to curl the ball in at the far post like his first goal for the club, but it went agonisingly wide. From then on Gallagher’s class was evident with some nice touches and passes although his corner kicks were lacking in height. Those white plimsols, sorry boots!
Wellens continued trying to find Fryatt and Howard with defence splitting passes but the Swansea defence coped well. Fryatt’s shot was blocked and Morrison, up for a free kick, saw his shot deflected over for a corner. City were pushing hard now for the winner.
Pearson then made a double substitution to change things around, taking off Oakley and Howard for N’Guessan and Kermogant, the latter just signing an extended contract. Although City were pushing forward, Swansea did look dangerous on the break, and a Pratley run through the middle ended up with him on the deck after a last ditch challenge but the referee waved away the Swan’s claims for a free kick and a possible red card.
With 10 minutes to go, Lee Trundle entered the fray, and could his “class” bring the visitors the winner as he has scored a few from the bench recently. A handball just outside City’s box, 20 yards out, had the Foxes fan’s hearts beating harder, but Trundle decided on a quick take and curled the ball past Weale’s far post to safety.
Then, in the 89th minute, City won a lucky free kick 10 yards into the Swansea half. Everyone went up as McGivern took the kick. He found Kermogant at the far post who won the ball in the air, heading in to the advancing N’Guessan who headed into the net to send the City faithful wild.
With 4 minutes of stoppage time, City took the ball into the corner with Gallagher and Kermogant trying their close control skills, but time ran out and the Foxes were into the hat for Sunday’s fourth round draw.
A close game with the City probably edging it with the right result. A visit to Swansea in the league in 2 weeks time will not be an easy game and they will be on the edge of the play-offs for sure.
Crowd: 12,307
CITY: Weale, Neilson, Morrison, Hobbs, McGivern, Oakley (N’Guessan), Wellens, King, Dyer (Gallagher), Howard (Kermogant), Fryatt. Subs not used: Logan, Parkes, Adams, O’Neill.
SWANSEA: De Vries, Tate, Van Der Gun, Lopez, Monk, Allen (Gower), Cotterill, Pratley (Dobbie), Painter, Serran, Pintado (Trundle). Subs not used: Cornell, Butler, Williams, Richards.
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation