Fan's Views - Mansfield

from someone who was at tonight's game, this is what he had to say: "We played well first 35 mins, didn't see what their player did to get sent off. 2nd half was all them, never a penalty but Connor probably should have been sent off. Ref then let lots of bad tackles go for them and we couldn't seem to pass straight." Different view from the radio?

Did John send you that :-) Joke

We will find out the full story tomorrow! If I had sent that text, it would have been "message sent" as we were going over the Severn Bridge!!! And I would have been wearing splints on my thumbs for a week.

LOL !!

What was the radio saying?

Never mind, just seen the highlights and I think I can guess. Maybe it was a penalty, but it definately looked like he'd got the ball from behind the goal.

Jones is improving Sounded like Roberto and Maylett had pretty decent games are returning to form. Connor sounds a crakcing player. We should have taken all the points but at least there was an improvement in performance. Of course this is all judging on radio commentry!

are there any tv highlights tonight jruss? will foscfa's finest john the mong make it two weeks in a row on tv?

Yeah I agree. Conner has been impressive. That effort at the death was unlucky as well. There were positives from the game because we bossed the first half, albeit playing against 10 men. But that early goal in the second half could not have come at a better time for them. A real kick in the teeth.

Believe me, J - Maylett is your original headless chicken.

Very decent performance from Coates, especially bearing in mind the liability that he was covering for. The right side was a shambles - Byrne and Maylett were both incredibly poor. Jones and Tate had very good games at the back, and Martinez is getting better game by game (apart from the penalty - and it was a penalty). Robinson skinned them for 40 mins, but died after that - fitness or does he need to judge the pace a bit better? We've got the bare bones of a decent side, but we're short a bit of experience, competence in some positions, and "dog". But luckily, they're the easiest things to sort. As for Mansfield - bunch of thugs. Talented, but low on confidence. They won't go up on yesterday's showing.

Where do I start? A bit of a Jekyll and Hyde performance by the Swans. In the 1st half, once we worked out that any balls played in the air were easily being mopped up by the Stags defence and kept it on the ground, we looked dangerous and created chances and Robbo took his goal well. Real end to end stuff with 10 man Mansfield breaking really well. Liam Lawrence was outstanding for them and a constant thorn down both of our sides. Second half we failed to subdue the fired up stags. A debatable penalty was awarded to the dancing Lawrence, but we only had ourselves (and possibly the linesman) to blame. From a fairly safe position on the touchline (the ball appeared to cross the line), Howard and Coates allowing Lawrence any where near the 18 yard box was criminal. From then on it was inevitable that any challenge would result in Lawrence looking for a spot kick. Things were heating up and after yet another cynical late tackle by the stags, Connor retalliated and should have been off. The ref showed inconsistancy and only gave a yellow card. So it's pobably justice that the penalty shout wasn't given when he was pulled back when through on goal later on. The most frustrating thing was how we failed to use our man advantage. I lost count of the times Byrne would pass to Maylett run down the line unmarked looking for a return pass, only for Maylett to cut inside taking Byrne out of the attack. It just appeared that Mansfield's 10 were fitter than our 11. They may have had the momentum from the early goal in the second half, but we seemed second to the ball and failed to close down their attackers effectively. After the promise of the 1st half the 2nd was a let down, but Mansfield should be given credit for that. Overall a draw was fair. Mansfield clearly are a team with quality throughout and played tonight with tremendous passion and energy(no doubt galvanised by their sending off), but will fail to achieve anything unless they control their reckless challenges. It appears Curle's strategy is to unsettle the opposition by constantly snapping at heals and following through after the ball has been passed. Their form of late may not have been good, but that's no excuse for the dirty play seen tonight.

I was taking advantage of swans world week free trial and when the mansfield player was sent off - the mansfield commentator went mad! He wouldnt talk for a good 10 mins either till they hit the cross bar. :-)

Very good report that. If its any consolotaion our team was as unfit as yours when Curle first arrived. The (then) 39 year old managed to beat every single player in sprinting and long distance, which i think finally woke a few of them up and out of their dream! It's took several months for them to get there - initial fitness was the main goal, then strengthening and toughening the players. Im sure the majority if Jacks hate Curle and detest his approach to football, but in my opinion he's one of the old school who believes in making a strong presence on the pitch (but not Vinny Jones style!). I must very strongly point out that i dont agree with us being overly thuggish, but we try and play a reasonaly high tempo which by nature can cause more incidents. I should point out that Curle is quite the disciplinarian, as Lawrence and a few others have recently found out. Im sure that comes as quite a shock to most Im not here to stir things, nor argue the toss over any ref decision - just to say my thoughts. Good luck for your end to the season --- Post edited by West_stand_man on 24/3 15:47 ---