Swansea City v Scunthorpe United

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

League Cup

Swansea City :
Cornell, Painter, Tate, Monk, Rangel, Britton, Dyer, Lopez (Idrizaj 77), Pintado, Bond (Dobbie 46), Morgan (Gower 60).
Subs not used:
De Vries, Williams, MacDonald, Collins.

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Williams, Mirfin, Spence, Canavan, Togwell (Hooper 87), Sparrow, Woolford (Thompson 76), Wright, Hayes, Forte (O'Connor 64).
Subs not used:
Lillis, Byrne, Morris, Boyes.

SULSESC REPORT

by Swansea Evening Post at the Liberty Stadium

SEVEN-MAN Swansea City were left pointing the finger at the referee after their hopes of a Carling Cup run were ended by Scunthorpe on a crazy night at the Liberty.

Isle of Wight official James Linington lost control as Garry Monk, Gorka Pintado and Angel Rangel were all dismissed.

With Stephen Dobbie forced off injured and no more substitutes available, Swansea played the last three minutes with only seven players - though it was effectively six as Bezian Idrizaj, who had also pulled up lame, stood on the edge of the pitch to avoid an enforced abandonment.

Scunthorpe had won it in extra time thanks to Gary Hooper's penalty after another Linington decision which enraged Swansea.

Earlier, Dobbie had stuck a fine goal to cancel out Niall Canvan's opener, but the football was almost forgotten as tempers flared.

Paulo Sousa clashed with Scunthorpe's management on the touchline as things got ugly at the death.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the officials' decisions, the cold facts today are that Swansea are out of the cup and they have three players facing suspensions.

And there are a couple of injuries, too. Oh dear, oh dear.

Sousa had stressed in the build-up how keen he was to progress in this competition, in which Swansea had enjoyed thrilling wins over Hull and Cardiff last season.

Yet the Portuguese saw fit to make five changes to the side which had chalked up a first victory of the campaign at Coventry.

The willingness to give youth a chance was evident again, with 18-year-old David Cornell in for his debut between the posts as Dorus de Vries got a rare chance to put his feet up.

Marcos Painter made a welcome return to the starting line-up 10 months after snapping his cruciate ligament, Alan Tate moving inside to accommodate the left-back's return.

Jordi Lopez, Kerry Morgan and Pintado were the other players to come in, with new recruit Idrizaj only making the bench.

Fresh from ripping into his players after a 4-0 thrashing at Sheffield Wednesday, Nigel Adkins picked a fairly strong side designed to make amends.

And the Scunthorpe boss got the response he was looking for as the visitors snatched the lead inside 13 minutes.

Cornell had done his first job of the night very well, plunging to his right to keep out Paul Hayes's shot.

But from the corner which resulted, the zonal marking system introduced by Swansea's new management failed to get the job done.

Josh Wright sent the flag-kick to the near post, where centre-back Canavan leapt highest to power home a header which Cornell could only push inside his post.

If their defending was disappointing, Swansea were sloppy all over the pitch.

There was a lack of tempo and a lack of precision in their passing, making chances hard to come by.

Pintado's looping header forced keeper Joe Murphy into a regulation save, Morgan let fly from distance but the ball was always arrowing wide.

Rangel was hungry to get forward, and expectations rose when he found Lopez on the edge of the penalty area.

The former Sevilla player turned cleverly to make space but shot straight at Murphy.

Rangel was soon on the gallop again, this time picking out Pintado.

The man nicknamed the Bull got his hooves in a twist, scuffing wide.

If Swansea were struggling, Scunthorpe were not much better. Yet the visitors threatened once more before the interval, Hayes picking out Martyn Woolford for a shot which was heading for the bottom corner before Cornell thrust out a hand.

The young stopper had done fine, but an improvement was required from those in front of him.

Whatever Sousa said at half-time, it wasn't enough - the Swansea boss called his players together for a team talk on the pitch just before the restart.

Dobbie was sent on for Bond, and within four minutes he picked up Lopez's pass and rolled a shot just the wrong side of the upright.

Dobbie had a shy again a couple of minutes later, then the ever-willing Nathan Dyer drove too high after more good work from Rangel.

Swansea were improving. Dobbie's quick feet almost brought relief to a healthy crowd, but the Scot's powerful 20-yarder crashed off the bar.

Three minutes later, his luck changed. Idrizaj, on as a substitute, laid off to Dobbie with almost his first touch in a Swansea shirt and the former Queen of the South man rifled home from just outside the penalty area.

Now the hosts looked the likely winners, but the balance shifted again five minutes from the end of the 90 when Scunthorpe substitute Michael O'Connor went flying over Monk's right leg.

Swansea's captain, like referee Linington, felt O'Connor had dived.

Monk told his opponent as much, and they ended up going head to head behind the official's back. Yet the assistant referee stepped in and, on his orders, Monk was shown red - presumably for butting - while O'Connor did not even get booked. Strange.

Swansea might still have won it in normal time, Dyer seeing an effort blocked before Pintado's point-blank volley was repelled by Murphy.

The 10 men held their own early in extra time, but things got even worse on 100 minutes when Wright caught Dobbie in the ribs and the goalscorer was forced off.

With three substitutes used, Swansea were now down to nine players.

Scunthorpe were making a miserable job of taking advantage, and they finally broke through thanks to another controversial refereeing decision.

Wright's corner was headed away by Tate, but Hayes volleyed back towards goal and Linington penalised Tate for handball.

Here was Cornell's chance to be a hero, but Gary Hooper drilled home from the spot in some style.

And there was more misery for Swansea in an incredible finish. First, Pintado became the second man sent off. Having been booked for an alleged elbow, he clattered O'Connor and saw yellow for a second time.

Next it was Rangel's turn, the full-back seeing a straight red for another alleged elbow on Matt Sparrow, before Idrizaj's injury meant chaos at the end.