Southampton earn a point against Swansea at St. Mary's (From Daily Echo)

Southampton earn a point against Swansea at St. Mary's

5:06pm Saturday 31st January 2009 in

By Adam Leitch » Chief Sports Writer

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Ten man Saints battled back to earn a 2-2 draw against Swansea at St Mary’s.

It was hardly the result that Mark Wotte wanted from his first home game as Saints head coach but after trailing 2-1 and being down to ten men, thanks to the sending off Lee Molyneux, it was a creditable point.

Watch and read about the fan protest

However, it does little ease Saints’ relegation fears and lumps even more pressure on the home game against Sheffield United on Tuesday night where they have to buck the record of one home league win in 15 attempts this season.

Saints got off to a flying start when David McGoldrick charged at the Swansea defence and was chopped down, winning a free kick just outside the area left of centre. Simon Gillett took it but blasted it straight into the wall.

It was an enjoyable opening to the game with both teams playing good football.

Swansea looked very confident and were quite happy popping passes about or putting the ball in behind for their front three to chase.

Saints, in a diamond-shaped midfield of 4-4-2, with Paul Wotton holding, Simon Gillett and Andrew Surman in front and Adam Lallana at the top point, were also looking reasonably slick.

Saints had appeals for a penalty for handball turned down on 12 minutes as a corner broke to Chris Perry and his shot was heading towards goal before being blocked by a Swansea defender.

But Saints did get the lead on 17 minutes.

Garry Monk tried to pass the ball back to keeper Dorus de Vries but barely made a connection and Marek Saganowski seized on it.

He showed great strength to hold off Monk and then composure to round de Vries not once but twice to create an opening to fire past two men on the line and into the bottom corner for 1-0.

Saganowski almost turned provider three minutes later as he fed in McGoldrick but in the end he was just about blocked out by some desperate Swansea defending.

Lee Molyneux became the first man in the book for a foul on Andrea Orlandi on 29 minutes.

After keeping Swansea quiet for so long the Walsh side equalised with their first effort of the game.

It came on 33 minutes as Alan Tate threw the ball to Jason Scotland, he held it up with his back to goal and it fed it into the path of the onrunning Jordi Gomez who blasted a low first time shot from 25 yards that flew past Kelvin Davis and into the bottom corner for 1-1.

Swansea thought they had scored again five minutes later when Scotland finished but the linesman had already flagged for a foul on Perry.

Gillett tried his luck from 30 yards on 39 minutes but it was straight at de Vries.

McGoldrick was the next to get an effort in, this one from 20 yards, and de Vries fumbled it behind.

Mark Gower had the last chance of the half but headed straight at Davis.

Both teams were quite happy to hear the half-time whistle, Swansea to compose themselves and Saints to try and find a way to recapture the good play they produced in the early stages of the match.

Both teams were looking pretty competitive and up for it at the start of the second period and Surman ended up in the book for a foul on Joe Allen.

That competitiveness all boiled over on 52 minutes as Molyneux was sent off.

He had been booked in the first half and already warned once for a tug back just after the restart that could have seen him off.

But when he jumped into a tackle and went straight through the back of Orlandi referee Steve Tanner had no choice but to show him a second yellow followed by a red.

Wotte had to reshuffle things and moved Surman to left back and played with a flat midfield three in a 4-3-2 system.

He made a first change on 58 minutes bringing on the experienced Jason Euell to try and settle things down in place of Lallana with McGoldrick dropping deeper to leave Saganowski almost as a lone striker.

Scotland managed to get a yard to turn in the box and fired in a low shot that took a slight deflection that sent it just wide.

Swansea responded by making a switch of their own with Gorka Pintado replacing Gower.

Saganowski was booked on 64 minutes for a late challenge.

And just a minute later Saints had it all to do as Swansea took the lead.

Tate was given too much time and space to fire in a blistering low shot from 30 yards that Davis could only parry out in front of him and Pintado reacted the quickest to tap home into the empty net from eight yards out for 2-1.

Both sides made a change on 71 minutes with Kayne McLaggon coming on for McGoldrick and going up front alongside Saganowski while Thomas Butler replaced Joe Allen for Swansea.

There was a bit of pushing and shoving on the pitch after a foul by Pintado on Wotton but the referee calmed it all down by speaking to the various protagonists.

It seemed to spur Saints on and incredibly they equalised on 76 minutes.

A hopeful ball over the top caught out the Swansea backline and found Saganowski who saw de Vries advancing off his life and lobbed the bouncing ball over his head and into the net with a fantastic finish for 2-2.

Davis almost got caught out in similar position by Scotland but it was form a tighter angle and he was able to save the shot.

Davis made another good save on 85 minutes as Angel Rangel’s cross from the right picked out Pintado at the far post. His header wasn’t the most powerful but Davis still had to be sharp to dive to his right and save.

As the fourth official held up the board showing four minutes of stoppage time Saints were being desperately pinned back trying to defend wave after wave of Swansea attacks.

But hold on they did. Morgan Schneiderlin came on as a late sub to waste some time but in the end the game finished with a point apiece.

Comments(35)

German Tony says...
5:15pm Sat 31 Jan 09

's better than losing I suppose