Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)
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SWINDON TOWN: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
6:00am Monday 1st October 2012 in Sport By Sam Morshead
Swindon's Simon Ferry
IT WASN’T pretty, in fact it was pretty ugly, but Swindon Town ground out one of their most impressive and important three-point hauls of the season at Shrewsbury.
The Robins had not paired the luxury of a clean sheet with the satisfaction of all three points on their travels for almost six months – since the 1-0 win at Morecambe on April 6.
It seemed the one character trait missing from such a talented squad’s armoury was persistence away from home, forcing a result when everything seemed to be going against them.
However, on Saturday Paolo Di Canio’s men reminded us all that they do not have to play perfect football to pick up a victory on the road – and what a joy it was to see a Swindon team dig and battle and harry and grind their way to a crucial win.
This was scrappy and unattractive, as Shrewsbury tried and almost succeeded in bullying themselves a point at the New Meadow.
But Swindon stood strong, remained resolute and, with time running out and a stalemate becoming more and more inevitable, Town found a way through their hosts’ rearguard.
It came from an unlikely source, Simon Ferry netting for the first time in more than 10 months to silence the Shropshire crowd with 12 minutes left.
Overall it was probably a fair reflection.
Swindon struggled to get into the game in the first period, though both Andy Williams and James Collins wasted glorious chances, but rose into the ascendancy in the second and, thanks to Ferry, fourth place in the League One table.
Swindon were treated to a physical confrontation in the early exchanges, as Ferry and Giles Coke struggled to match muscle with muscle in midfield.
The first real chance of a fairly scrappy opening 15 minutes came from a set piece. Matt Richards’ corner from the right drifted to the back post, where Jermaine Grandison had time to control the ball but could only lash his volley high and wide of Wes Foderingham’s goal.
Sam Winnell stung Foderingham’s hands for the first time in the 18th minute, but the forward’s drive from range was never likely to find the back of the net.
Winnell was guilty of missing perhaps the Shrews’ best chance of the opening quarter of the game, heading over unmarked from Aaron Wildig’s free-kick, while Foderingham was almost left red-faced when Paul Parry’s cross from the right appeared to be drifting over his head and into the top corner.
However, the Swindon stopper was able to back-pedal and tip the ball over the crossbar.
Having engineered little in the final third, Town should have taken the lead in the 24th minute against the run of play.
Williams benefited from two fortunate ricochets as he galloped into the Shrewsbury penalty area and, with time to spare, side-footed wide of Chris Weale’s right-hand post from not much more than eight yards.
It was a chance you expected Williams, in the middle of a rich vein of form, to take.
Slowly Town began to weigh anchor, fighting blustery conditions and a pitch far from conducive to their preferred style of quick, smooth passing through midfield.
Compensating for the conditions, the visitors were happy to launch balls into the channels for Matt Ritchie, James Collins and Williams to chase and, while the trio were more than willing runners, the tactic was easily stifled by Shrewsbury’s strong-arm defensive tactics.
Jay McEveley had Weale scrambling across his goal to push his free-kick wide just after the half-hour before Collins had his fairytale storyline served up on a plate in the final minute of the period.
Williams latched onto a mistake by Darren Jones to sprint into the area and around Weale, only to see his goalbound area cleared off the line by a backtracking Shrews defender.
When the rebound fell to Collins three yards out, however, it seemed inevitable that the former Shrewsbury striker would fire his new team in front.
But from point-blank range, under pressure from the Shrews defence, he contrived to blaze high over the crossbar.
Unhappy with what he had seen from his midfield in the first half, Paolo Di Canio made a double substitution at the break, withdrawing the relative inexperience of Coke and Raffa De Vita and replacing them with Tommy Miller and Gary Roberts.
The changes appeared to galvanise Town. In the 53rd minute only a brilliant save from Weale, making himself big in front of Collins, prevented the Swindon frontman from clipping Williams’ knockdown into the back of the net.
Two minutes later Collins opened up the space for a shot at goal once again but, after firing well wide, Di Canio had seen enough and replaced the striker with Adam Rooney.
Rooney headed Ritchie’s cross wide 10 minutes later as Swindon steadily forced the hosts onto the back foot but, with the Robins seemingly prone to regular lapses of concentration, Shrewsbury still held a potent threat on the break.
As the game entered its final 20 minutes, so it became ever more stretched.
While Town couldn’t find the killer pass to set up that golden chance in front of goal at one end, Shrewsbury were busy doing the same at the other.
Both teams looked leggy in midfield and when chances did eventually arrive they soon went begging, exemplified by Marvin Morgan’s horrible hoik over the crossbar from the edge of the box with 15 minutes remaining.
Either a major blunder or a moment of class was going to settle the contest and in the end it was the latter.
It took 78 minutes for Swindon to conjure up a move of any real quality but when it came it was decisive.
Ritchie set Rooney free down the right, the forward chipped to the back post where Williams rose above Jones to nod into the path of Ferry.
If you were going to use one word to describe the Scot prolific would not be it, but Ferry showed all the composure of a veteran goalscorer to get his body over the bouncing ball and volley into the bottom right-hand corner of Weale’s goal.
And the Robins hung on through a desperate final 10 minutes to secure all three points.
“It would have been a shame if we had gone away without three points,” said Di Canio afterwards.
“Apart from the first 15 minutes, during which I was very angry and I didn’t enjoy because they had an occasion to prove their desire and I didn’t see the fire from some players.
“In terms of the game and the quality in general, for 70 minutes we dominated the game and we should have scored more goals.
“I’m very happy because in the past we used to not draw but lose these games, so it means the quality is the quality, the knowledge is the knowledge and at the end we came out with three points fully deserved.
“I’m very happy even if I’m very tired.”
Comments(12)
Lordjim13
says...
8:53am Mon 1 Oct 12
mossy282
says...
9:28am Mon 1 Oct 12
More importantly myself and three friend stayed over Sat night, had a great time in the town and the beer was really cheap! £2.50 for a pint of Banks or Pedigree!
Bring on Tues night
rencista
says...
10:03am Mon 1 Oct 12
SAPFanSTFC
says...
1:22pm Mon 1 Oct 12
Lazaat wrote:Agree with you there as the 2nd half was very much Swindon dominated with Shrewsbury looking tired and making lots of errors.
I think Sam was at a different game to me! From reading his match report you would think it was a very even match, but as Paulo said after the first 20 minutes it was all Swindon and we definitely should of won by more than 1 goal! We were by far the better team and we dominated most of the match and if you read the Shrewsbury fans forum they all say we were far better than them and deserved to win...and most of their fans say we were the best team they have met this season and should go up.
I thought Ward had a decent game but our 2 best players were Williams who has great pace and ability, and Roberts when he came on in the second half looked a class act! The Swindon support was fantastic as usual, we drowned out the home support and it was like a home match. The only criticism I have is that we miss too many chances.
...
Ward was selected in the team of the week for the football league paper and would agree that he did a great job on Morgan.
---.
One point of note from the football league paper is that a player chooses the best player in each position that he's ever played with...in some hugely illustrious company at left back is our very own Jay McEverley...who was stated as having no real negatives except for the fact that no-one can understand a word he says! :-)
---.
Gave me a giggle...but when you look at the other names mentioned in the other positions it looks quite a privilege.
Lazaat
says...
2:05pm Mon 1 Oct 12
rencista wrote:Thanks for agreeing with most of what i said rencista, but i really do think Ward had a good game and as SAP said he did a brilliant job on Morgan. Yes he did make a few bad passes but in his main job of defending i really thought he looked commanding and i am sure Morgan is pleased he wont be playing again Ward again soon. For a 33 year old Ward looks in superb condition and is obviously very very fit. Morgan was a difficult forward to mark as he is very tall but he spent the who match pushing and fouling Ward every time Ward went for a header. But football is about opinions and my opinion is that Ward is getting better and better for us and with him at centre half we look very strong defensively.
I agree with everything that Lazaat says apart from Ward. He was shocking to the point of being a liability, he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights far too often.
joey butler
says...
2:44pm Mon 1 Oct 12
Lazaat wrote:Hi Laz,
rencista wrote:Thanks for agreeing with most of what i said rencista, but i really do think Ward had a good game and as SAP said he did a brilliant job on Morgan. Yes he did make a few bad passes but in his main job of defending i really thought he looked commanding and i am sure Morgan is pleased he wont be playing again Ward again soon. For a 33 year old Ward looks in superb condition and is obviously very very fit. Morgan was a difficult forward to mark as he is very tall but he spent the who match pushing and fouling Ward every time Ward went for a header. But football is about opinions and my opinion is that Ward is getting better and better for us and with him at centre half we look very strong defensively.
I agree with everything that Lazaat says apart from Ward. He was shocking to the point of being a liability, he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights far too often.
Very interesting point you make about Ward and his fitness. Similar could be said of Benson, who always looks keen and hungry for success.
Off topic and in contrast to the above however, I was looking up our League Cup winning team on Wiki Sunday and they were a much youger team than I recall from Wembley. At aged only 11 then though, I guess most people would look older!
Perhaps the balance is a mixture of young and more experienced players, which we certainly seem to have at the moment.
joey butler
says...
2:47pm Mon 1 Oct 12
Lazaat
says...
3:24pm Mon 1 Oct 12
joey butler wrote:Hi Joey, i didnt realise you were only a young whippersnapper? I was 15 i think and went to the 69 Cup Final by myself and i remember the team as all being "old" LOL. I was on 'youtube' a few nights ago and watched highlights of the 69 match, i was stood behind and low down the goal that Rogers scored our 3rd goal, the whole ground went quiet as he raced through and rounded Wilson, then i heard the net rustle before 35,000 Town fans went absolutely wild!!!
Lazaat wrote:Hi Laz, Very interesting point you make about Ward and his fitness. Similar could be said of Benson, who always looks keen and hungry for success. Off topic and in contrast to the above however, I was looking up our League Cup winning team on Wiki Sunday and they were a much youger team than I recall from Wembley. At aged only 11 then though, I guess most people would look older! Perhaps the balance is a mixture of young and more experienced players, which we certainly seem to have at the moment.rencista wrote: I agree with everything that Lazaat says apart from Ward. He was shocking to the point of being a liability, he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights far too often.Thanks for agreeing with most of what i said rencista, but i really do think Ward had a good game and as SAP said he did a brilliant job on Morgan. Yes he did make a few bad passes but in his main job of defending i really thought he looked commanding and i am sure Morgan is pleased he wont be playing again Ward again soon. For a 33 year old Ward looks in superb condition and is obviously very very fit. Morgan was a difficult forward to mark as he is very tall but he spent the who match pushing and fouling Ward every time Ward went for a header. But football is about opinions and my opinion is that Ward is getting better and better for us and with him at centre half we look very strong defensively.
I agree Benson is very fit and the only reason i can think of why Paolo doesnt play him more is because he is a bit slow and lightweight, although he certainly knows where the onion bag is!
joey butler
says...
3:38pm Mon 1 Oct 12
Lazaat wrote:Hi Laz,
joey butler wrote:Hi Joey, i didnt realise you were only a young whippersnapper? I was 15 i think and went to the 69 Cup Final by myself and i remember the team as all being "old" LOL. I was on 'youtube' a few nights ago and watched highlights of the 69 match, i was stood behind and low down the goal that Rogers scored our 3rd goal, the whole ground went quiet as he raced through and rounded Wilson, then i heard the net rustle before 35,000 Town fans went absolutely wild!!!
Lazaat wrote:Hi Laz, Very interesting point you make about Ward and his fitness. Similar could be said of Benson, who always looks keen and hungry for success. Off topic and in contrast to the above however, I was looking up our League Cup winning team on Wiki Sunday and they were a much youger team than I recall from Wembley. At aged only 11 then though, I guess most people would look older! Perhaps the balance is a mixture of young and more experienced players, which we certainly seem to have at the moment.rencista wrote: I agree with everything that Lazaat says apart from Ward. He was shocking to the point of being a liability, he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights far too often.Thanks for agreeing with most of what i said rencista, but i really do think Ward had a good game and as SAP said he did a brilliant job on Morgan. Yes he did make a few bad passes but in his main job of defending i really thought he looked commanding and i am sure Morgan is pleased he wont be playing again Ward again soon. For a 33 year old Ward looks in superb condition and is obviously very very fit. Morgan was a difficult forward to mark as he is very tall but he spent the who match pushing and fouling Ward every time Ward went for a header. But football is about opinions and my opinion is that Ward is getting better and better for us and with him at centre half we look very strong defensively.
I agree Benson is very fit and the only reason i can think of why Paolo doesnt play him more is because he is a bit slow and lightweight, although he certainly knows where the onion bag is!
I was sat on my own at Wembley in a 'posh' seat which had cost £3, with my Dad standing elsewhere with loads of Arsenal fans, such had been the desperate rush for tickets.
You can Wiki all the Town team individually, well worth a read. All the best.
joey butler
says...
9:42pm Mon 1 Oct 12
joey butler wrote:Hi Laz,
Lazaat wrote:Hi Laz,
joey butler wrote:Hi Joey, i didnt realise you were only a young whippersnapper? I was 15 i think and went to the 69 Cup Final by myself and i remember the team as all being "old" LOL. I was on 'youtube' a few nights ago and watched highlights of the 69 match, i was stood behind and low down the goal that Rogers scored our 3rd goal, the whole ground went quiet as he raced through and rounded Wilson, then i heard the net rustle before 35,000 Town fans went absolutely wild!!!
Lazaat wrote:Hi Laz, Very interesting point you make about Ward and his fitness. Similar could be said of Benson, who always looks keen and hungry for success. Off topic and in contrast to the above however, I was looking up our League Cup winning team on Wiki Sunday and they were a much youger team than I recall from Wembley. At aged only 11 then though, I guess most people would look older! Perhaps the balance is a mixture of young and more experienced players, which we certainly seem to have at the moment.rencista wrote: I agree with everything that Lazaat says apart from Ward. He was shocking to the point of being a liability, he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights far too often.Thanks for agreeing with most of what i said rencista, but i really do think Ward had a good game and as SAP said he did a brilliant job on Morgan. Yes he did make a few bad passes but in his main job of defending i really thought he looked commanding and i am sure Morgan is pleased he wont be playing again Ward again soon. For a 33 year old Ward looks in superb condition and is obviously very very fit. Morgan was a difficult forward to mark as he is very tall but he spent the who match pushing and fouling Ward every time Ward went for a header. But football is about opinions and my opinion is that Ward is getting better and better for us and with him at centre half we look very strong defensively.
I agree Benson is very fit and the only reason i can think of why Paolo doesnt play him more is because he is a bit slow and lightweight, although he certainly knows where the onion bag is!
I was sat on my own at Wembley in a 'posh' seat which had cost £3, with my Dad standing elsewhere with loads of Arsenal fans, such had been the desperate rush for tickets.
You can Wiki all the Town team individually, well worth a read. All the best.
Sincere thanks for that YouTube link.
The goals are etched in my memory forever.
But I kind of forgot how bad the pitch was, as so many pitches were in those days, including the County Ground.
And that Roger Smart hit the post with a rare header, forgot that too.
Also, that Sir Don fluffed the ball very soon before the Arsenal equaliser.
Many thanks Laz!
PS. Rod Thomas ran a very decent pub for several years late nineties, at Foston's Ash above Gloucester, but I am not quite sure what he is doing now??
rencista
says...
9:57pm Mon 1 Oct 12
Lazaat says...
6:20am Mon 1 Oct 12
I thought Ward had a decent game but our 2 best players were Williams who has great pace and ability, and Roberts when he came on in the second half looked a class act! The Swindon support was fantastic as usual, we drowned out the home support and it was like a home match. The only criticism I have is that we miss too many chances.