This game went from a complete sleep fest in the first half riddled with incompetency to a pretty exciting second half which saw the officials intervening with two penalties. The Championship continues to baffle.

The first twenty minutes of this game was definitely to the advantage of the home side. Their touch play causing the Swans defence problems. Fortunately the Canaries finishing was weak or thwarted by Lawrence Vigouroux in the Swansea goal. On twenty three minutes Stamenić was booked in a contest for the ball. Referee Thomas Parsons started the game with some decisions that could have been waved on but he decided to stop proceedings. A Gonçalo Franco foul for a dangerous free kick was valid but when the Swans broke via Malick Yalcouyé the same foul went unpunished. The extraordinary decision to book Marko Stamenić as he attempted to cross a bouncing ball with a Norwich defender stooping low to head it away. It seemed pointless.

Norwich City continued to press making openings with a far more positive attitude than Swansea when getting the ball forwards. The main issue for the away side was clearing the ball safely to the feet of their own players. This increased the pressure on their defence. When in positions to advance there seemed little or no outlet and too much caution in their play to progress. Franco did have a snatched shot but there seemed panic in their play when they did get into a dangerous position.

With eleven minutes to half time the home team had another good chance to score but again Vigouroux stopped the shot. From that a corner from the Swans right was not cleared by Vigouroux but the ball went out for another corner on the other side of the pitch. A scramble ensued with two Norwich shots being blocked as the pattern of first half play remained constant.

One of the reasons for this was the failure to retain the ball by any Swansea player. It just came back for more Norwich opportunities. Evidence of the Swans lack of control was highlighted when a ball was drilled across the box but no home player was there to tap it home. Three Swans players all beaten. Free kicks were awarded to the Swans, but no cautions to the instigator of the foul. That would change. More examples of just how poor the Swans were came when first Ronald and then Franco just couldn’t control the ball in the Norwich half. They couldn’t win any challenge nor even look like they knew how to. Balls through to nobody, loose balls given back to Norwich, and for the watcher a pretty clueless performance. Referee Parsons cautioned Eom as he burst forwards in control of the ball much to his amazement. The official alleging a dive. It clearly wasn’t. But the point in case was this was such a shoddy performance from the Swans and poor control of the football was causing these issues.

The lack of atmosphere from the home fans, and with the Swans section full and enjoying the sun it had the feel of a practice match. However, there was little composure and effort when on the attack for the visitors. The end of the half saw the Swans unable to even control the ball when it looked harder to give it away on the edge of their area. The half was up there with one of the worst we have had to endure this season.

Having said that the Swans defence was well marshalled by Ben Cabango with Cameron Burgess and at least Yalcouyé was getting a foot in when needed. Matos needed to make some changes especially tactically, otherwise this game was going to end in defeat.

The second half saw a more competitive Swansea side, a lovely ball through from Eom for Yalcouyé nearly worked. Soon after a decent shot from Eom from outside the area was easily saved by keeper, Kovacevic in the Canaries goal. Eom and Yalcouyé were working the ball quicker niñita we still saw the Swans with no composure when in possession. The niggly fouls on Swansea players started to surface as they did once or twice in the first half. A foot left in or a little ankle tap off the ball. We again started to see openings with poor balls slowing down progress. When there was a well taken ball through to Vipotnik from Eom he was pulled down in the area on fifty minutes, for yet another penalty this month !

As calm as ever and for all those penalties given this month we saw the same composure and craft to score the opening goal. Norwich as Norwich do started cheating when Toure alleged that he was brought down in the area. The strange thing was he clearly wasn’t, the referee saw it but no card was given. Odd because that was the result that greeted Eom in the first half. This wasn’t a good game though with the players looking at times like school yard kids chasing about for the ball and when they got it they just booted it where they wanted. It was better though, but very average.

On fifty eight minutes Matteson was booked for a foul on Franco.

Then we saw an injured Joel Ward subbed for Josh Key and Vipotnik off for Adam Idah. The sun shone as the Swans looked to protect their lead. A quick cross from Tymon was met by Eom who headed over, there needed to be no defensive backs against the wall stuff that has often surfaced this season.

On sixty three Fisher was booked for bringing down Ronald and the tempo was increasing.

Yalcouyé saw an opportunity wasted when he broke into the area, that would have seriously upset the Canary apple cart. On sixty seven minutes Franco went off for Liam Cullen. On sixty eight minutes Ahmed was booked for Norwich for stopping Stamenić breaking for a dangerous Swansea attack. The Swans then went on a streak of controlling the game, Yalcouyé dominant with Eom the space in midfield in the Swans favour. Then another very odd moment when a cross into the Swans box was cleared by Burgess for a corner, Vigouroux clashed with Matteson and even though the ball was out of play a penalty was given. That was slotted away by McLean to put the score at 1-1. Another remarkable incident in a Championship season littered by officials deciding the results of games.

Norwich pressed up to the ninetieth minute.

We then had an added seven minutes. A game of mistakes in the first half had turned into a competitive fixture in the second half. The momentum though stayed with the home side. Fouls aplenty with an inspired ex Swan Harry Darling trying to energise his side. It looked like the Swans were running on empty. Norwich were play acting, every time they lost the ball theatrical displays ensued backed by a home crowd that had at last woken up. Norwich even tried to gain a penalty when Vigouroux clearly handled in his own area. The home side pressed as the Swans defended. The game casually drifted away for a draw. This second half was a reflection of what we felt this game should be. The first may as well be forgotten,

One more game to come as the EFL Championship kicks off at 12:30pm. This will be against Charlton Athletic and an opportunity for the Jack Army to say farewell for the season. One final note, a quiz question. Why does the game between Portsmouth and Birmingham City mean a lot to those Swans players in the squad if they defeat Charlton Athletic next week at the Swansea.com ?

⚽️ Canaries : Vladan Kovacevic, Jack Stacey, Harry Darling, Pelle Mattsson, Liam Gibbs (Amankwah Forson 89), Anis Ben Slimane (Ali Ahmed 62), Kenny McLean (captain), Paris Maghoma (Jacob Wright 77), Jose Cordoba, Kellen Fisher, Mohamed Toure (Mathias Kvistgaarden 77).

Unused Substitutes: Daniel Grimshaw, Ruairi McConville, Amankwah Forson, Sam Field, Jeffrey Schlupp, Errol Mundle-Smith.

⚽️ Swans: Lawrence Vigouroux 8 Joel Ward 6 (Josh Key 60) 6 Ben Cabango 6 (c), Cameron Burgess 7 Josh Tymon 5 Marko Stamenic 7 Gonçalo Franco 6 (Liam Cullen 68) 4 Malick Yalcouye 7 (Melker Widell 73 5 Ronald 5 Eom 6 (Leo Walta 74) 5 Zan Vipotnik 7 (Adam Idah 60) 5

Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Jay Fulton, Ricardo Santos, Ollie Cooper.

⚽️ Referee: Thomas Parsons : You get the feeling these officials are either trying to determine the way matches go each week or they are completely and utterly incompetent. It’s one or the other. 3/10. Parsnip.

⚽️ Attendance: 26,454
Away 1,100

⚽️ Matos post match

It has saved lives.

Vipotnik : MI News via Reuters Connect : Swans fans & team celebration Swansea Independent