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Swans Dumped Out Of FA Cup
Saturday, 24th Jan 2015 15:25 by Planet Swans (follow us on Twitter @swansnews)

For some there were dreams of a run all the way to Wembley but that dream was shattered thanks to two red cards, three Blackburn goals and a Swans performance that simply was not good enough on the day.

There is probably not much else that can be said on a day like today and it certainly cannot be a case of looking for excuses as the Swans - almost to a man - found themselves wanting against their Championship opponents who deservedly won the game simply because they wanted it more.

From the moment that Kyle Bartley, hesitated and bought down his man as early as the sixth minute and saw red, the game was always going to be tough for the Swans and so it proved. Bartley looked favourite to get to the ball when a long one was played from the Blackburn half but it bounced and King's pace caught him unawares. It was a decision that maybe on another day wouldn't be given but the moment the referee decided it was a free kick then he had little option bar to show the red card and give Bartley an early finish on his return to the team.

By that time we had seen Jordi Amat almost caught out by the lively King and he was joined in the backline by Federico Fernandez with Tom Carroll sacrificed to make way for him.

It was a time that the Swans needed to regroup and the best way to try and do things like that is to score a goal which Gylfi Sigurdsson did with some style just past the twenty minute barrier. He looked to be going nowhere when he lifted his foot and hammered a shot into the back of the net that gave the keeper no hope at all and the ten man Swans were in the lead.

One up and one man down, you hope from there that you can spend some time frustrating the home side. We failed. Less than 2 minutes later Blackburn were level when Tiendalli missed out at the back post and the ball was eventually prodded home to bring the home side level.

From that point forward for me there was probably only one winner as the Swans seemed to sit further and further backwards. We seem to have developed an instinct that the first pass needs to go backwards and the accuracy of the passing leaves much to be desired at times as we give the ball away cheaply far too often in games.

The surprise was that the goals were so late in coming from Gestade and Conway but they always were coming and had Blackburn been forced to come back to the Liberty I suspect that they would have felt very hard done so as they made that journey.

There was of course time for Gylfi to lose his head and get his own red card - slightly harsh but he should never have dived in and asked the referee to make a decision for him. It probably summed up the afternoon that we had in a performance where manty players need to take a hard look at themselves

Things just aren't working at the moment the way that they should but fundamentally we have the same players that saw us through the early stages of the season so well although you would hope that a Saturday afternoon in Lancashire may burst the egos that some have shown in recent weeks.

The Swans will remain the only Premier League side without an FA Cup Final experience to their names and on this evidence we certainly cannot complain at that.

Photo: Action Images



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