It wasn’t the best of games in this early kick off at Ashton Gate this afternoon. The swans were not at their best and throughout three quarters of the game disappointed on the ball with a lack of direction and intensity.

Steven Benda kept the swans in this game early on with two exceptional saves in the first twenty minutes. Swansea looked lacklustre and the main culprits were Ben Cabango and Matt Grimes. The inevitable goal for the robins came when Joel Latibeaudiere gave away the ball and Tommy Conway ran on to a Nakhi Wells pass to fire a shot that put Bristol City one up. It was no more than the home side deserved. Benda this time had no chance.

The self destruct button was on full show for Swansea.

Loose passes and a slow pace with the midfield not seeing runs from forward players became a frustrating feature of the first half an hour against a robins side enthused by their one goal lead. The corner delivery from the home side was very decent and again from a corner on twenty eight minutes Harry Darling missed his clearance and Ben Cabango was lucky to see the cross roll away to safety.

The swans were looking weak on the ball and possession was easily given up. Matt Sorinola contributed to the misplaced passes stats but the swans were struggling to even keep the ball let alone pass it. Unless of course a robins player was the objective. The real issue was a lethargic almost walking style from the swans that lacked direction and thought. Jay Fulton made a darting run in to the home sides area and his cross shot was blocked for a corner. The clearance from that set piece saw a miss hit shot from Darling and the next phase saw a lovely delivery in to the box. Nathan Wood only needed to touch the ball to score but he seemed to get out of the way of his chance.

That summed up the lack of desire.

For the last third of the half the swans stepped up the pace and Oli Cooper scuffed a shot wide when he had time to take control of the ball and pick his spot. Nobody in black was having a good game. Another swans corner from a shot by Luke Cundle followed on thirty six minutes. Once again the effort to score was missing. Then a penalty shout for the swans was turned down when Cundle went tumbling in the box. They have been given. The possession stats were there for the swans but the enthusiasm stats were very low.

It has to be said the tentative play by Swansea wasn’t aided by the lack of control on the ball, Matt Sorinola joining in as the half went on. The fact that the play was so unenthusiastic not one bad tackle was made in the half, and definitely not a contentious yellow card. It does make you wonder how a team like Swansea could be so poor over a whole forty five minute period. In injury time the swans earned a free kick after a Darling run, Fulton and Grimes stood over the ball. The delivery in to the box saw Wood produce a poor effort as the half time whistle blew.

It was a poor Swansea half, a lack of direction and determination produced very little to get excited about, a far cry from last weekends derby win. The Intensity was missing for the whole half. It had to be found in the Ashton Gate away dressing room if Swansea were to get anything from this game.

The second half started with more slow possession and misplaced passes, it was again sluggish with little direction. A slow build up saw Obafemi miss his headed chance and the corner from that was wasted again. Why a game could be so ponderous when positivity was needed only the players can answer. Obafemi looked way off the pace on the ball and off it, and something had change. Even the addition of Ryan Manning was having little impact. Scrappy is a word best used at this point. He too joined in with misplaced passes, why change the theme of the game ?

The robins for some reason started to get edgy on sixty minutes, fouling and disrupting the game when it really wasn’t necessary. Swansea upped their energy with Fulton driving matters, at last some promise. Cooper left the field for Olivier Ntcham at a set piece corner, Darling again fluffed his lines turning his back on a header that could have caused more trouble but it bounced out to safety. End to end lethargy continued with a very static swans defence watching balls in to the box, maybe it was the weather ? A breezy but warm twenty degrees.

Ntcham had a snatch shot on sixt six minutes but it had no pace but his intervention in an attacking sense was making a slight difference. The pace was suiting him. The real issue at this point was the lack of authority on the ball from Swansea, the desire just wasn’t there to win a tackle or take control of the game. This is where captain Matt Grimes gains his critics, the leadership on the field was again missing. Armstrong Oko-Flex and Jamie Paterson came on for the yet again disappointing Sorinola and workmanlike Jay Fulton on seventy minutes, it was the swans last chance to up the tempo. Then Naughton was introduced. Time for Ianto full pelt ?

The robins looked like they were happy to watch the game as the swans slowly motioned forwards. A lovely pass from Ntcham to Manning saw Ntcham meet the ball on the edge of the area but his shot only worried those in the home end. Oko-Flex worked hard for a corner on seventy four Manning’s delivery was well defended for another corner which was well cleared but was met by Ntcham who hit an unstoppable shot to make it 1-1. The increase in tempo had paid off. And the robins tactics looked flawed for the first time in the game. An Oko-Flex shot spun wide for the swans ninth corner of the game. The result was the tenth corner of the game.

The swans looked more lively with the game stretched as we entered the last ten minutes. Bristol City now up for a basketball game of attack and defence. Despite the swans pressurising the robins in the last ten minutes with an inspired Ntcham the game finished 1-1. A decent point for the swans and at least in the last quarter we saw the character we have come to expect from Russell Martin’s side.

Bristol City: O'Leary; Tanner, Pring, Vyner; Sykes, James (C), Scott (Williams 81), Dasilva; Conway (King 81), Semenyo (Martin 73), Wells (Bell 73).

Subs not used: Bentley, Low, Kadji.

Goal: Conway 24

Yellow card: Pring 90+4 🟨

Swansea City: Benda; Wood (Manning 46), Darling, Cabango (Naughton 70); Latibeaudiere, Fulton (Paterson 70), Grimes (C), Sorinola (Oko-Flex 70); Cundle, O Cooper (Ntcham 62); Obafemi.

Subs not used: Fisher, Cullen.

Goal: Ntcham 76

Referee: Andre Marriner 7/10 but missed a penalty shout for the swans

Official away 2,243

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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