Issue 152

Williams brace sinks Bath

12th February 2007

Swansea produced a marvellous second half performance to see off a shell-shocked Bath at Sketty. In a true game of two halves, Swansea came from 1-0 down at half time to score four goals without response after the break and secure a vital win.

Swansea were slow out of the blocks in the first half and were under pressure from the off. Bath's talented forward line caused problems from a number of corners early on, but it was a hopeful long ball that brought the breakthrough after 12 minutes. The ball was hacked up field from deep and the Bath striker gave chase. Swansea goalkeeper Adam Wood woefully hesitated and was chipped from 25 yards as Bath raced into an early lead. Bath continued to dominate for the next five minutes, forcing three more corners but failed to add to their lead.

As the half went on, Swansea grew in confidence, and we began to see the talents of midfielder Sam Bradburn. On 20 minutes he exchanged passes wonderfully with Ralph Berg down the right hand side and delivered a delicious ball in, but Bath scrambled it away. From the resulting corner Jamie Morris had the chance to equalize, but blazed wide.

On 25 minutes Bath pumped another long ball forward and again caused confusion in the Swansea defence, Wood dithering again, almost resulting in an own goal.

Bradburn was the sole shining light for Swansea in the first half, and it was another neat exchange between him and Berg that allowed the latter to cross, but the danger was snuffed out once again.

Despite their improvement as the half went on, Swansea will have been the happier to hear the half time whistle. Bath had run the show, and exposed Swansea's defensive frailties under the long ball. The second half was a footballing spectacle. Four goals in 18 minutes turned the game on its head. The first two, scored within 14 minutes of the break, came from the excellent Liam Williams. First, he tidied up some scrappy play inside the Bath half with a neat finish from just inside the penalty area. Then, from a long throw, captain Tom Hopper chipped the ball across the area to leave Williams with a simple header from barely three yards to put Swansea ahead.

Four minutes later it was 3- 1. Swansea won a free kick five yards in from the left touchline which was floated in by Bradburn. The ball sailed across the area, brushing Jamie Morris on its way through and straight into the net.

Within three minutes Swansea had their fourth. Vinny Wattleworth showed his quality, beating two men and jinking inside and playing a neat one-two with Morris before smashing home.

Swansea were in complete control and began moving the ball around crisply, Hopper wasting a good chance to make it five with 20 minutes still on the clock. Soon after Williams had his chance to seal his hat-trick but headed high and wide from a corner. Swansea continued to press forward as Bath committed men forward and Morris was again wasteful when through on goal.

The late misses mattered little in the end as Swansea eased to a 4-1 victory. Tom Hopper was delighted with his team's comeback after half time, and rightly so as they showed some real quality in overpowering a talented and resilient looking Bath team who will not know how they were so convincingly beaten in a match which they dominated for long periods.

The second half showed exactly what this Swansea team is capable of, but they must be worried about the first half, and will look to shore up defensively before their next outing. If they can do this then they are capable of going far this season.

Tom Mooney