Liberty Stadium - Swansea City AFC
Swansea City 2-2 Aston Villa
01/01/13 - Premier League
Att: 20,406
Another new year is upon us and after just a few hours of sleep I don't think I've ever felt less enthused about boarding a train at 8:27 in the morning. Maybe it was the fact that I'd been out til the early hours or Villa's horrendous form over Christmas that had dampened my enthusiasm for the match, but nevertheless I was on the platform on a bitterly cold morning, sinking my first bottle of Export. This was also to be the first time I'd seen a match in Wales, so I made sure I had my passport handy and took the time to learn a few words of the local language.
It was a simple enough journey with just the one change at Reading and no delays for a change. There were a group of people all sparked out after the new year celebrations and as the train pulled into Swindon one of the group awoke, informing everyone that they had to get off. She jumped off the train, but her friends remained in their seats in a drunken daze as the train pulled away. They ended up having to go to Bristol to come back again, which I'm sure the poor woman was very pleased about.
By 11:45 the train had arrived in Swansea and first thing on the agenda was a trip into town in search of some breakfast, where I came across a nice little cafe that did a full English with a pot of tea for under a fiver, which did the job nicely. With plenty of time and not a great deal to see or do in the city centre I decided to walk down to the stadium. There were no sign posts but as the train passed the ground I knew the general direction to go in and after around 20 minutes of walking I found it.
With plenty of hills and greenery surrounding the stadium it made for quite a picturesque setting, even though the stadium itself looked just like any other new build. After taking a few pictures and buying a programme I went to the Harvester next to the ground for a beer - Not ideal, but it seemed to be the only option. As it happened it wasn't too bad, with both sets of fans mixing together in a friendly atmosphere. I know Swansea, like their neighbours Cardiff, have a reputation but I have to say I found the locals to be a really friendly bunch.
With around an hour to go before kick off I went into the ground and had a pint in the concourse while watching the early kick off between Albion and Fulham. One thing I noticed was the amount of weary faces in amongst the away support, with plenty sipping on Coke after the previous night's antics. Whose idea is New Years Day football anyway?
Once inside the ground my first impressions were similar to how I felt about St Mary's and the Madejski, where it's a tidy enough venue but there's very little to write about. The stadium was opened in 2005 with a 1-1 friendly draw against Fulham, following 93 years at their former home, Vetch Field. It's been a meteoric rise for The Swans since they signed off at the Vetch with promotion from the basement division in 2004.
In their first season at The Liberty they reached the play off final at nearby Cardiff, but were beaten by Barnsley. Two seasons later they didn't mess about and won the League One title with 92 points, reaching the second tier for the first time in 24 years. They settled straight into their new division and narrowly missed out on the play offs in their first season after promotion. In 2010/11 Brendan Rodgers guided The Swans to 3rd place in the Championship before defeating Nottingham Forest and Reading at Wembley to become the first Welsh club to play in the top flight since Sky invented football in 1992.
Unlike other clubs (I'm looking at you, Stoke) Swansea came into the league and were intent on playing football the right way. They weren't scrapping, kicking, hoofing and constantly bringing the game into disrepute in the name of results - They played with a style that was easy on the eye and their 11th placed finish fully justified the way they played, as they showed that smaller clubs can achieve results and achieve them by getting the ball down and passing teams off the pitch. The departure of Rodgers to Liverpool threatened to disrupt the club's progress but the shrewd appointment of Michael Laudrup saw the club pick up where they left off and they're enjoying another successful season, showing the same class and style that won them so many plaudits last season.
By stark contrast Aston Villa were an absolute disgrace over the festive period, having conceded fifteen without reply, which included a club record defeat and a battering at home by relegation rivals Wigan Athletic. It's clear to see why some bookies were offering odds of 5/1 for an away win, despite Villa winning the reverse fixture quite routinely at Villa Park.
With recent results still fresh in the mind it was important that Villa kept things tight and didn't concede early, so it was slightly alarming when a good save from Guzan prevented Swansea taking the lead after just 3 minutes. It was even more alarming 5 minutes later when a simple through ball split a shambolic back line in half as Wayne Routledge rounded the keeper and rolled the ball into an empty net to give Swansea the lead. Seconds later a loose ball gave Michu a fantastic opportunity to double their lead, but his effort bounced back off the face of the post. Villa were saved by the woodwork again soon after and within the first quarter of an hour Swansea should have been 4-0 up. It looked like it was going to another long afternoon for the Villa.
With half time approaching we were relieved and happy to still be in the game and in the 44th minute the ball fell to Weimann in Villa's first attack of the half. The Austrian international controlled it and smashed it into the bottom corner to give Villa a thoroughly underserved equaliser to the shock and elation of the travelling fans.
It was a much more even contest in the second half with Villa looking far more organised than they had in the first period. There weren't many clear cut chances but Swansea were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty after a handball from Joe Bennett which looked in the box from where I was, but the referee awarded a free kick. As the match entered its closing stages it looked as if Villa would earn a decent point on the road until Andi Weimann was bought down in the box and Villa were awarded a spot kick with just 6 minutes remaining. Benteke stepped up and made no mistake as it looked like Villa would be heading back to B6 with all 3 points, which looked very unlikely after the opening stages of the match. With nearly all of the 5 added minutes played, Villa were defending in numbers and hanging on desperately to an unlikely lead. A cross into the box wasn't cleared and the initial shot was blocked before Danny Graham hit the ball through the entire Villa team, including 3 players on the line, to snatch a late equaliser for the home side.
It was gutting to concede so late but before the match we'd have taken a point and Swansea should have been out of sight after 15 minutes, so taking it all into consideration it was a decent result and more importantly it stopped the rot when it could have easily descended into another hammering.
I got the bus back to the train station and as I arrived in town I realised that my camera was no longer in my pocket. I looked on the bus but it wasn't there, so I can only assume that it fell out of my pocket during the goal celebrations. I've emailed the club to see if they'd found it, but I am yet to receive a reply.
That was the only dampner on what turned out to be a very enjoyable trip. After sinking a pint with a couple of fellow Villans it was time to depart and I was back in Farnborough in decent time. While the ground isn't the most exciting in the world it's a pleasant enough place to watch football, it has a good atmosphere and is easily accessable, which means that I'll almost certainty go back one day.
They're a club that's progressed massively over recent years and with Laudrup pulling the strings and finding gems in the transfer market, there could be more to come from the club yet. Good luck to them, too.
Due to the loss of my camera I have no pictures to add to the site. Thankfully the good people at groundhopping.se were at the match and their fine collection of photographs can be found by clicking HERE.
