Kidderminster 0 Swansea 2
Saturday, 29th Sep 2001 00:00

Jenks And Williams Give Swansea Win


FULL TIME REPORT
KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS	0	v	2	SWANSEA CITY

The MAGS at Aggborough

A deserved three points for Swansea City today as they outclassed Kidderminster on their own patch to record the first three point haul under the management of Colin Addison.

Richie Appleby was handed his first start of the season in place of the injured Jonathan Coates but otherwise it was an unchanged Swansea side from the one that started the 3-3 draw with Shrewsbury on Tuesday night.

Freestone Jenkins O'Leary Todd Bound Howard Appleby Cusack Phillips Roberts Williams

Swansea's first goal was not long coming into the game. With just 7 minutes on the clock, Stuart Roberts found himself on the edge of the area after a neat 4 man move and his ball was played across the area for the arriving Lee Jenkins who notched his first league goal for 5 years with a shot into the corner of the net.

It was the perfect start for Swansea who continued the theme of the first half Tuesday with some nice one-touch pass moves. Gareth Phillips seemed to be the man singled out for the Kidderminster attention as he was bought down three times during that first half spell. It was, at this stage all Swansea and they were rewarded on 20 minutes when John Williams latched onto a ball over the top and muscled his way past the Kidderminster defender to get into the area and strike his third goal of the season past Brock in the home goal.

Swansea were off an running and the 1000 or so Swansea fans behind Roger's goal were at this stage in full voice as they sensed just their third league win of the season.

The passing was the main reason that Roger was being left unemployed in the Swansea goal and at one stage the Swans strung an incredible 45 passes together in a row - whether it was a record or not needs to be checked by some of the Stattos' out there but it wouldn't be far off.

Notable performances were coming from Appleby, Phillips and Williams who was the clear first half man of the match with his running and committment and this was proving that usual man of the match candidates Roberts and Roger were not needed to perform their usual heroics.

Swansea headed into the interval 2-0 up and the fans praying that they had shaken the habit of sitting back and defending a half-time lead. But for 15 minutes of the second half it did not appear that they had shaken this as Kidderminster tried to get back into it as the visitors seemed happy with their lot.

This was changed by the substitution of Mumford for Appleby and the game opened up again and Swansea took the upper hand. Stuart started taking players on and the chances were there for the taking. O'Leary, Mumford and Roberts all came close to extending Swansea's lead as Kidderminster had no answer to the Swans play.

But again, after a promising spell, Swansea sat back and Kidderminster found themselves with seven headers to try and get back into the game, thankfully none of which were converted. Other sides, better than a poor Kidderminster team could and probably would have beaten us with this amount of freedom but this is not detracting from the football that we played.

Nathan Tyson was bought into the fray with 7 minutes remaining but his appearance was short lived in an incredible decision. Clarkson attempted a back pass to Brock leaving Tyson with the chance to get the ball in a 50/50 challenge. He was near to getting it but the keeper fell to the floor and got up to confront Tyson. He rained a few punches at him and held him by the neck gesturing to the Swansea fans that more was to follow. As the rest of the players bar Roger piled in, O'Leary and Roberts also took punches as the Swansea support showed their disgust with missiles being thrown onto the pitch and people being led from the ground.

Incredibly the referee, Mr Bennett elected to send off both Tyson and Brock although what Tyson's crime was is anybody's guess. The referee seemed inept throughout the game and ignored two blatant Swansea penalty appeals - one from a handball in the first half and when Roberts was bought down second half and the only result there was a yellow card for Roberts.

A couple of comments to make. John Williams, after his sterling work in the first half was clearly tired in the second but this didn't seem to be acknowledged by the management quick enough and it was only when Tyson came on that he was replaced.

The 1000 or so Swansea supporters acknowledged Jan Molby and sung his name at the game and he personally hugged the Swansea players when the match had finished.

One a different day with a different strike force we could have won this game by a much larger margin but right now, all that matters is we won and hopefully this will be a kick start for our season.