Nearly - at the Stadium of Liberty

Last updated : 21 September 2008 By Tony Scholes
Steven Caldwell
Steven Caldwell - Man of the Match
Having been in front for just over half an hour with Joey Gudjonsson heading his first goal since last November it all looked over before Ferrie Bodde grabbed the leveller in the time added on for the incompetence of the officials.

It was a cruel ending to a game that looked ours from the minute we took the lead, but I'm sure most of us would have settled for a point ahead of kick off.

No report of the game should exclude the goings on off the field in South Wales. All too often we report hostility along with stewards and police causing problems. It could not have been more different in Swansea where just about everyone went out of their way to make you feel welcome.

We parked up and had a five minute walk down to the stadium. We made that walk with some home supporters who chatted to us about football. We talked about respective teams and needless to say the name of Leighton James came up in the conversation.

It's how it should be, and was so refreshing after being at Forest a week earlier. Once there the attitude of the stewards and police was first class. They were helpful and friendly and it did all really make it a better day.

The Liberty Stadium looked impressive enough from the outside, just like many of the new stadia that have cropped up in recent years. Inside it was almost Reading like with the amount of leg room in the seats and you'll go some way to find anything more comfortable.

Before going inside I'd learned that Ade Akinbiyi hadn't travelled because of a re-occurrence of his back problem. It was good to see Jay Rodriguez getting his place on the bench in what was the only change from the squad that had beaten Blackpool four days earlier.

Amazingly Burnley came out in their change blue shirt, surely closer to a clash with Swansea's white than our home shirt would be. A very strange decision that was met with some disappointment by many of the fans there, and more than one complained of problems picking out the two teams in the strong sun, particularly when play was at the far end.

Swansea were certainly the better side in the opening exchanges. We struggled to get any sort of foothold in the game and they were able to pass the ball around with some ease. Thankfully there's no directness to their play at all and as they passed it around for passing's sake they didn't cause us any problems whatsoever.

They got the ball wide but when I saw Brian Jensen was as much as spectator as I was it says much for their attacking prowess. The biggest problem they caused us was going out of their way to win free kicks. I don't like this aspect of football, going down untouched is cheating, and a better referee than the appalling Andy Hall would have done more about it than wave away all their appeals.

It wasn't one way by any means and we had our moments, and probably the better chances in the first half. Martin Paterson should probably have done better when he battled his way through only to hit his shot straight at goalkeeper Dorus de Vries.

Referee Hall was stealing the attention though as he turned in a typical card waving session during a short period of the first half. It was Swansea's Andrea Orlando who first went into the book, but you just knew it wouldn't be long before he turned his attention on us, and he did in no uncertain terms with two in three minutes and a third six minutes later.

Whilst you couldn't complain too much at Clarke Carlisle's the booking of Kevin McDonald was just downright ridiculous. In a run down the touchline he had his shirt dragged off his back for thirty yards without either Hall or his hapless flag waver doing anything about it and when our midfielder stepped in out came the yellow. Still, this set of incompetents were to get even better in the second half.

We'd just started to come into things by half time with the scores still level. On the balance of play Swansea should have been in front, but if you don't create a single chance of note you are not going to score many goals.

Joey Gudjonsson replaced Kevin McDonald at the start of the second half, and it came as no surprise. Kevin had had such a good game against Blackpool but he'd looked well off the pace in this one. Swansea also made a change, Shaun MacDonald coming off to be replaced by Mark Gower, if only they had told the officials.

The second half started quietly for five minutes but then came a hold up and so much confusion that I don't think anyone had a clue what was going on, certainly referee Hall didn't. What had happened is that Gower had come on as a substitute without informing the fourth official, and as we all know this is as serious as a bad foul and demands a yellow card.

The fourth official called over the referee and presumably told him that number 11 shouldn't be on the pitch. Wade Elliott looked totally baffled as Hall called him over with the yellow card he so loves already in his hand waiting. Had the fourth official not told him it was the Swansea number 11? Who knows, but with this lot no one could have been surprised.

It did lead to our best spell of the game and there was no doubt where the danger was coming from, and that was our number 11, the one who didn't in the end get a yellow card. Wade was tormenting them down our right hand side and I'd already suggested he could be our match winner when Graham Alexander and Chris McCann combined to get the ball out to him.

He'd two defenders there but he did well to beat them and get a cross in that was met by Gudjonsson heading home from close range at the far post. Out came the mobile phones in the away end but I warned people not to send texts saying Joey had given us the lead with a header, surely the recipients would never believe them.

But he had, and then Wade almost immediately created a second for us. Again he got down that right to cross well, and this time it was Steven Thompson on the end of the cross but he saw his effort saved.

We were comfortable now, and Swansea looked a beaten side, so why on earth we decided to sit on that lead I don't know. They were offering nothing, but we changed the way we were playing and also made two substitutions that saw us take off our two strikers.

Between those two changes we saw something we hadn't seen all afternoon, Brian Jensen had to make a save. There's nothing more vulnerable than a goalkeeper who's had little to do but he got down ever so well to keep out a shot from Jason Scotland, on as a sub for Swansea. They hit the woodwork from the resultant corner, but that looked to be about it from the home side.

Referee Hall added on four minutes. No complaints about that from the away end, we thought it might even be longer. But over two of those minutes had gone and we were in no trouble at all. Then disaster struck.

Alan Mahon had possession, and with just over 90 seconds to go and in front you would have thought he'd take the ball into the corner and win the game for us. He didn't, he went for a shot and they cleared. They got the ball onto the left and from there they hit a sweeping ball across the pitch out onto the right wing.

That ball caught out the otherwise impressive Stephen Jordan and left them clear, but even so why was Bodde unmarked to turn the ball in from close range when the cross came in?

It was hard to take, you really could never have seen Swansea getting back into the game, and there they were celebrating this late, late equaliser. It felt as though we'd been beaten as two points went begging in that last couple of minutes.

It was soon brought to an end after that and a point it was. I know we'd have settled for that before kick off but this really did feel like a kick in the teeth. It hadn't been a good game at all. After the excitement of the Blackpool game this I'm afraid was the opposite. Both sides always looked capable of passing the ball around but neither side did enough to ever really hurt the opposition as they should have and the two goalkeepers will probably find it difficult to have easier afternoons.

Looking for a man of the match was easy in that it had to be one of the defenders. As the fourth official held up his board I was asked who my choice was and I said I'd wait until the end. I'd decided on Jordan who had turned in another excellent ninety minutes. However, even though he wasn't the only one at fault with the goal he did get caught out and because of that I certainly can't name him as our top player.

I don't have to look too far away though, the central defender right next to him in that back four, our captain Steven Caldwell. The skipper has come in for some stick this season after a difficult start, but in recent games he's shown the sort of form he did when he first joined us from RK Sunderland. This was another excellent performance from him.

It could have been three successive wins, it wasn't but it is still five league games without defeat, and I don't think many of us would have expected that when we left the Ipswich game. Now we need to go out and get something against Preston, that defeat last December still rankles. Just please keep Lee Mason away.

The teams at Swansea were;

Swansea: Dorus de Vries, Angel Rangel, Gary Monk, Ashley Williams, Fede Bessone, Andrea Orlando (Jason Scotland 73), Leon Britton, Ferrie Bodde, Darren Pratley (Jordi Gomez 61), Shaun MacDonald (Mark Gower 45), Gorka Pintando. Subs not used: Alan Tate, Febian Brandy.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Russell Anderson, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander, Wade Elliott, Kevin McDonald (Joey Gudjonsson 45), Chris McCann, Steven Thompson (Alan Mahon 80), Martin Paterson (Robbie Blake 75). Subs not used: Diego Penny, Jay Rodriguez.

Referee: Andy Hall (West Midlands).

Attendance: 13,299 (including 622 Clarets).