Swans v Northampton | Vital Football

Swans v Northampton

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
Tuesday nights opponents in the Carabao Cup First Round are Northampton Town.

They won promotion to League 1 in season 2015-16, winning the L2 title under Chris Wilder (now Sheff Utd manager), after almost going out of business earlier that season over a £10m debt. They were relegated back to L2 after two seasons.

They are now managed by Keith Curle and presently have a Swansea link in goalkeeper David Cornell and previously Adebayo Akinfenwa.

They lost at home 0-1 to Walsall on the opening day of this season with nine debutants in the team and last Saturday drew 1-1 away at Port Vale, here are the goals -

 
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Swansea City:Kris Nordfeldt; Kyle Naughton, Ben Cabango, Ben Wilmot, Declan John; Yan Dhanda (Kees de Boer 88), George Byers; Wayne Routledge, Barrie McKay (Jordan Garrick 72), Kris Peterson (Andre Ayew 62), Sam Surridge.

Substitutes not used:Erwin Mulder, Tivonge Rushesha, Brandon Cooper, Liam Cullen.

Swansea 3 (Ayew 80’, 88’, Byers 83’) - Northampton 1 (Warburton 61’)

Eleven changes from our starting line up at Derby, as Cooper decided to give players game time. Naughton was made captain for the night on his 150th game for the Swans. It was surprising that the only experienced players on the bench were goalkeeper Mulder, and A Ayew.

We looked a bit disjointed with all the changes and Northampton frustrated us with some good defending, closing down, and high press, and played well above their league position of 60 places below us in League 2.

Seven shots on goal by the Swans first half to five shots from Northampton, all blocked or missed the target.

Second half wasn’t much better with 2 shots for Swans and 5 for the Cobblers up to the first goal on 61 mins. Cornell caught us napping with a long kick out from a corner to Williams who put Warburton through on goal.

A Ayew then came on for Peterson, who had a quiet game, and it was all Swans as we desperately tried to equalise. Garrick was really impressive when he came on at 72’.

From a corner on 80’, Ayew headed home, and then the following 8 min spell saw another 2 goals, a right footed shot outside the box and another header from Ayew, Wilmot heading on from a corner for the assist.

I was impressed with Cubango, Wilmot, and especially Garrick.

Possession 59% - 41%
Shots 22 - 14
On Target 8 - 3
Corners 11 - 4
Fouls 8 - 10
Bookings 0 - 1

Attendance: 8,058
Ref Kevin Johnson 6/10
 
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So, an eighth game to play in August then, after the Cup win last night, making it understandable why there were so many changes to the team with the crammed fixture list.

We’ve drawn Cambridge at home in the Carabao Cup 2nd Round. All ties have to take place in the week commencing Monday, August 26.

We have a league game at home to Birmingham on Sunday morning Aug 25, at 12:00, so it could be that the cup tie will be two weeks tonight, on Wed Aug 28 to make it equispaced, as we have Leeds away on Sat Aug 31.
 
Yeah not the best performance and had to come back from behind but good to see us progress nevertheless. Like you said, we looked a bit disjointed given the amount of changes and you've got youngsters and new players there still getting used to their team-mates so it'll take a bit of time for them all to play better together. Seeing Ayew coming on was a surprise but he, along with Garrick especially helped us get back and win the tie. Be interesting to see now if Ayew is involved again tomorrow.