Match Highlights

WATCH HIGHLIGHTS

SWANS 1 BLACKPOOL 1

SWANSEA CITY WERE DENIED A FIFTH HOME WIN IN A ROW AS KESHI ANDERSON'S LATE GOAL ENSURED THE SPOILS WERE SHARED AT THE SWANSEA.COM STADIUM.

TEAM LINEUPS

Swans: Ben Hamer; Ben Cabango, Kyle Naughton, Ryan Manning; Ethan Laird, Flynn Downes, Matt Grimes (captain), Jake Bidwell; Olivier Ntcham (Korey Smith 75), Jamie Paterson; Joel Piroe (Michael Obafemi 71).

Subs not used: Steven Benda, Liam Cullen, Joel Latibeaudiere, Liam Walsh, Rhys Williams.

Blackpool: Daniel Grimshaw; Dujon Sterling, Marvin Ekpiteta (captain), James Husband; Jordan Gabriel, Callum Connolly (Owen Dale 81), Ryan Wintle, Reece James; Demetri Mitchell (Josh Bowler 66), Keshi Anderson; Jerry Yates (Shayne Lavery 71).

Subs not used: Stuart Moore, Kenny Dougall, Gary Madine, Daniel Gretarsson.

Referee: Keith Stroud

Attendance: 16,886

WATCH HIGHLIGHTS

BARNSLEY 0 SWANS 2

LATE GOALS FROM OLIVIER NTCHAM AND JAMIE PATERSON SAW SWANSEA CITY GET THEIR REWARDS FOR A THOROUGHLY DOMINANT DISPLAY AGAINST BARNSLEY AT OAKWELL.

TEAM LINEUPS

Barnsley: Brad Collins, Jordan Williams, Callum Styles, Callum Brittain, Cauley Woodrow (captain), Josh Benson, Jasper Moon, Romal Palmer (Obbi Oulare 77), Dominik Frieser (Aaron Iseka 57), Michal Helik, Devante Cole (Carlton Morris 57).

Subs not used: Jack Walton, Claudio Gomes, Toby Sibbick, Victor Adeboyejo.

Swans: Ben Hamer; Ryan Bennett, Kyle Naughton, Ben Cabango; Ethan Laird, Flynn Downes (Olivier Ntcham 64), Matt Grimes (captain), Jake Bidwell (Ryan Manning 72); Korey Smith, Jamie Paterson; Joel Piroe (Liam Cullen 86).

Subs not used: Steven Benda, Joel Latibeaudiere, Liam Walsh, Rhys Williams.

Referee: David Webb

Attendance: 11,342

SWANSEA CITY SUPPORTING WHITE RIBBON DAY

People across the UK are being urged to come together in their communities, organisations and workplaces to say ‘no’ to violence against women on White Ribbon Day.

White Ribbon Day takes place on Thursday, November 25. The day itself, and the 16 days that follow, will highlight the need to end violence against women.

White Ribbon UK is a leading charity, seeking to engage with men and boys to educate and prevent violence against women.

Their mission is for all men to fulfil the White Ribbon Promise to never commit, excuse or remain silent about male violence against women.

Be active on social media, follow us and spread the word using #MakeThePromise

Where to go for help in our community...

Swansea Women’s Aid has a range of services for women and children who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse. Their workers have specialist knowledge on issues relating to domestic abuse and are able to provide confidential, emotional and practical support. Their services include:

Emergency accommodation – Available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Women (and children if they have any) can stay for one or two nights, a few weeks or until they are rehoused, whatever they feel is the best option for them. There are staff on site Mondays to Fridays who work on a one-to-one basis with the families, ensuring that their crisis needs are met - including clothing, food, money and toiletries - and assisting with any ongoing issues such as accessing benefits, housing, legal advice, healthcare and emotional support.

DAISE Plus service – Offers support to women in communities across Swansea on a one-to-one basis with the option of it being face-to-face, by telephone or online. The support includes safety planning, practical and emotional support, advice and signposting for housing, finances, benefits and more.

It also offers specialist group programmes that enable women to meet, reflect on their experiences of abuse and move on positively with their lives.

Children and Young People’s service (CHYPS) – Supports children and young people aged five to 25 years, offering one-to-one face-to-face support with the option of phone or online communication if they would prefer. It also offers specialist group programmes for children and young people, play and activities and parenting workshops.

All of our services can be accessed via a dedicated phone line which is available 24/7 on 01792 644683 or by email to swa@swanseawa.org.uk or via our website www.swanseawomensaid.com

STILETTOS AND STUDS BY JULIE KISSICK

Control the controllable” is a line we often hear from managers and head coaches when it comes to sports psychology and you can see the logic of drilling that into players as part of their training mantra.

Of course, they have a degree of control when they play. They do their research on the opposition and they use their skill and the knowledge they have acquired as professionals to try to control the game.

We all know that football, like any sport, is unpredictable in so many ways and sometimes what happens off the pitch has a huge influence on it - and vice versa.

A few weeks ago, it seemed that our captain would be heading for new challenges, away from our club. But how quickly and sometimes unpredictably, things can change when a plan is being executed and players are clearly buying into it.

Progress takes time and patience, on everyone’s part, as skipper Matt Grimes explained when he signed his new deal which keeps him at the club until 2025.

“It’s a process, and the way we are playing at the moment there are games we are absolutely dominating from start to finish,” said Grimes.

“There are also still games, like the weekend, where there is still a lot to improve on.

“I think it is about learning and growing as a group to a point where we are not making those mistakes, and we are controlling games from the first minute to the last and are blowing teams away.

“That is the end goal, to get to the point where everyone is right at it and we are doing everything the manager wants from us.”

And after disappointment last weekend, that aim to get things right on the pitch resumes today as visitors Reading arrive at the Swansea.com Stadium on the back of a 1-0 home defeat to Sheffield United. The Royals fell to their fifth loss in seven Championship matches and the result placed them two places and two points from the danger zone.

Reading boss Veljko Paunovic said after the game: “Both teams were suffering from fatigue and everywhere around the league you can see it - a lot of 0-0s, not a lot of goals. It indicates that at this point in the season, an early midweek game affects both teams in terms of quality.”

Similarly, no-one from either of the sides that lined up in the tunnel on Tuesday night when Reading hosted United could have predicted that just past the hour mark Blades midfielder John Fleck would collapse on the pitch.

Early reports suggested he was conscious when he was hospitalised and United boss Slavisa Jokanovic later confirmed Fleck was speaking and even asked about the score.

After the game he said: “He is in hospital. He is conscious and he asked for the result. Hopefully he will be okay. He is safe, in good hands and we pray that everything will be okay.”

Let’s hope that continues to be the case for Fleck and let’s get behind the boys as they strive to implement the Martin master plan and we continue to see progress on the pitch.

BEN HAMER REFLECTS ON AWAY VICTORY AT OAKWELL

Ben Hamer felt Swansea City had taken a good step in the right direction with their dominant 2-0 win over Barnsley at Oakwell.

The Swans bounced back from their weekend draw against Blackpool, having the lion’s share of possession and territory and making the breakthrough via goals from Olivier Ntcham and Jamie Paterson.

It was Swansea’s third away win of the season and moved them up to ninth in the Championship table; it was also their ninth clean sheet of the campaign.

And the goalkeeper felt the victory was evidence that the Swans are starting to replicate their home form on their travels.

“I think this was a really good step in the right direction,” he said.

“We have been saying about bringing some of those home performances and producing them again away from home.

“We have been very solid at home, we have not conceded many goals, just a few, and this was a game that was a good reflection of how we have been playing at home.

“It is pleasing to see but we have to go on and make sure we back it up against Reading on Saturday.”

The Swans completed over 800 passes against the Tykes and had nearly 80 per cent of possession. It took until the latter stages of the contest for the visitors to find the breakthrough, but Hamer knows there will be times that patience is important for the Swans when facing sides happy to defend deep.

“The way we play, one of the parts of it is it allows us to keep the opposition away from our goal,” he added.

“If that means we end up keeping the ball away from the other team, and in the second half of games teams tend to tire.

“It is not easy to break teams down, there is a lot of hard work that goes into it from our side, but we know it is harder for the opposition.

“You could see they were well organised at the back in the first half, and maybe we did not cause them too many problems.

“But in the second half you could see that they were really tiring, and the fans stuck with us and were patient with it.

“Saturday was unfortunate because we had the better of the game, we had the lead, and then there was a defensive mishap at the end, I was culpable for that.

“I have to take responsibility for that. We had a bit of a talking to after that and we showed the right reaction.”