The Lads looked to extend their good run against the Swans, and with the excitement of last week's late, late show still coursing through our collective veins, were shot in the foot by O9's over exuberance after only 18 minutes, and the officials' basic lack of understanding of the rules. 1-3 was more than a bit harsh on us, but against a side that bases it's game on dominating possession, the last thing you need is to go a man down.
Much had been said in the past week about the visitors having the best possession statistics in the division, but I remember not that many years ago they enjoyed a similar status - and we just let them faff about with it, but stopped them when the got near our box. Protect the keeper, that was the idea - and speaking of keepers, many congratulations to Patto on his selection as NE young player of the year. A worthy winner, and unlike the runner-up in the Grown Up section, his contract isn't the subject of conjecture. It's very hard to know what to believe in the media about Stewart's situation, but noises (albeit second hand, and this only echoes) from the LND himself indicate that he likes it here. Time will tell.
On a sunny but cold afternoon, we lined up:
Patterson
Hume Ballard O'Nien Gooch
Neil Evans (c)
Amad Roberts Clarke
Stewart
...and a bench of Bass, Batth, Ba, Bennette, Wright, Dajaku, and Michut.
The Jacks kicked off North towards their chorally impressive fans, but we got the first attack together. Swansea played it about, Dan Niel put in a great tackle and followed it with an equally impressive run forward, but Clarke was outpaced going for the overlap. With 12 gone Roberts was fouled 20 yards out in the inside right spot, and curled the free a foot over. Ballard's loose pass out of defence then gave Swansea a break, but the eventual shot flew wide of Patto's right hand post.
After a few minutes of settled football from both sides, Stewart was flattened on halfway but the ref ignored the foul, inside only to penalise us for something half as bad seconds later. With Roberts on the right and Amad central, the latter danced to the byline in the box and went over - some TV viewers have claimed it a definite penalty, others say it wasn't - but when the ball came into the centre circle Luke flew in. Foul, red card, but how can their defender run 40 yards to push O9 over escape with only a yellow?
Barely an minute later, on 19, there was a tremendous round of applause for Elliot Ayre, a young member of our Red and White family who tragically left us at the end of December. RIP, young'un.
Batth came on for the unfortunate Roberts, Gooch swapped sides with Hume, and we went three at the back. Stewart was taking a fair old battering, and we could see his shirt being pulled from 100 yards away - but the officials couldn't see it from five. Amad was looking a bit lost - chasing a commercially advantaged opposing side just isn't his thing - and we struggled to gain possession. Most of the rest of the half was spent with 20 players in our half, with just the odd foray southwards by ourselves.
I believe there were two added minutes, but let's just say we were glad to get to the break level - although our hard work deserved that scoreline.
No changes for the second half, but we started more positively with Clarke pushing forward more. Stewart and Neil one-two-ed it into the box, but when the latter went down there was no penalty. Only four minutes in, and with more than a suspicion of offside, Swansea went one up. Bugger
A trip on Neil brought their 17 a yellow, the the first of a series of baffling offside decisions went against us. Stewart was staying forward more than before the break, and when Clarke whipped in a left foot cross after getting to the line, he created havoc for Batth to head it back for Neil to hook in from a few yards. Gerrin Lad! 64 gone, and hope of a win returned.
Not for long, though. Another clear foul on Stewart on halfway was ignored, and seconds later another scruffy finish made it 2-1. Ten minutes after that, their third was a near post blast that Patto couldn't keep out, and that was that.
Four subs with ten to go brought us added pace (Evans, Amad, Clarke, and Stewart off, Michut, Bennette, Ba, and Dajaku on).
No amount of chasing about was going to get us anything other than a mystery yellow for Hume as the ref continued his afternoon of misinterpretation. Six added minutes were of little use to us, and the Swans took all three points.
Luke really needs to work on the part of his game that includes tackling - firstly when to and when not to, and secondly not to fly in like a Sunday morning hatchet-man. It undoubtedly cost us today, and he doesn't need me to tell him that.
Man of the Match? Dan Neil for another mature performance at the heart of midfield.
