Swansea City
Swansea City 0 Bristol Rovers 0: Match Report
By Martin Williams
November 1 2003
Swansea City were held to a goalless draw at home to Bristol Rovers at The Vetch today. An already dull affair was spoilt even further by the poor officiating of the game from 'Premiership' referee, Andy D'Urso.
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| Swansea City were held to a goalless draw at
home to Bristol Rovers at The Vetch today. An already dull affair
was spoilt even further by the poor officiating of the game from
'Premiership' referee, Andy D'Urso. After not allowing the game to flow - 30 free kicks were given throughout - D'Urso missed a clear cut penalty when loan signing, Daniel Nardiello was hauled down near the goal line in the closing minutes. Director of Football, Brian Flynn replaced the injured Martinez with returning form injury, Andy Robinson in the only change to the side that won at Rochdale last weekend. There were home debuts for on loan Manchester United players, Alan Tate and Daniel Nardiello. The first of four bookings during the match went to Swansea's Izzy Iriekpen after 10 minutes. The former West Ham defender seemed to have executed a perfectly timed sliding tackle just outside the area on Rovers' Ryan Williams. But D'Urso amazingly saw it otherwise. Luckily there was no danger from the resulting free-kick. Swansea were quiet in front of goal with Nardiello and Nugent unable to get into the game. It was defender Izzy Iriekpen who went closest in the first half when he curled the ball over the bar from inside the box. At half time Lenny Johnrose came on for Leon Britton presumably due to a knock that could have been picked up when Britton was fouled while running through at goal only for referee, D'Urso to give the decision the other way. The Swans created a few more chances during the second half but were unable to covert them. Kevin Nugent went through on goal but he sliced his completely left foot shot wide. However the best chance of the game fell to Andy Robinson who had an excellent game on his return from injury. Nardiello squared the ball to him and after rounding the defender, his shot was brilliantly saved by Rovers' keeper, Kevin Miller. Then the Swans should have been given a penalty near the end when Nardiello was hauled down inside the box. He then had his shirt pulled whilst on the floor but D'Urso refused to do the right thing leaving the home fans fuming. Swansfootballclub.co.uk Man Of The Match: Izzy Iriekpen. |
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| Brian Flynn On Missing Key
Players "We need to get our influential people back," Flynn told BBC Sport Wales. "By December we should have Lee Trundle, Roberto Martinez and Karl Connolly in action and once that happens we will be ok. "We're still picking up points away from home, though, and that compensates for teams coming to the Vetch and making things difficult. "It was very frustrating against Rovers, a patchy game. They defended very deep and gave us no space to work into." |
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