Swansea City 0 - 0 Aston Villa - Match Report

Today's match importance was put into the back of players, Welsh fans, and football fans in general's minds after news broke of the unfortunate passing of Wales national team manager Gary Speed. The resultant atmosphere at the Liberty could only be described as shocked and sadenned. The crowd passionately singing chants of "one Gary Speed, there's only one Gary Speed" before kick off summed up their feelings aptly. The events were respectably handled after a minutes silence was demonstrated with the utmost passion before kick off, some fans choosing to stay silent, some giving the Welshman applause and some parading him with the aforementioned chant. Either sentiment was done with utter respect. Suggestions were put forward to call the game off in Swansea, but the game took place as planned. Shay Given was visibly touched by the emotional gesture from the fans and with no less than four Wales players taking part in the game; Swansea's Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor and Joe Allen plus Aston Villa's James Collins, their minds could well have understandably been on the passing of the Welsh football legend but performed admirably today under the circumstances. The first half saw Swansea knock the ball about with ease, as is almost expected from the Welsh side, and Villa seemed to not have their minds totally in the game for the first 25 minutes. The ball was consistently given away, cheaply at times, which allowed Swansea to maintain the possession with even greater ease than usual. Referee Neil Swarbrick was called into action very early into the game after a rash tackle from Fabian Delph on Leon Britton 2 minutes into the first half. He wasn't finished there though, dishing out a further 3 cards in the half, with Scott Sinclair, Alan Hutton and Richard Dunne also going into the book. Despite Swansea's domination in possession, the chances were far and few between, the same could not be said for the away team. The main opening of the half for Villa occured when Angel Rangel picked up an just under 20 minutes into the half. The Spaniard took a slip whilst on the attack and injured himself in the process. Peculiarly Swansea did not opt to knock the ball out of play after realising the pain the full back was in. The attack eventually broke down and lead to the pacey Gabriel Agbonlahor taking on Rangel in the Swansea 18-yard box. The chance came to nothing but Rodgers was forced to replace Rangel with Welsh U21 captain Jazz Richards a few minutes later. After the substitution Agbonlahor saw a lot more of the ball and started to take advantage of the Richards' inexperience at this level. The versatile Welshman, who started playing a centre midfield but has been adapted into a full back over the past few years, struggled to catch up with Agbonlahor's pace and attacking style. Before the half time whistle the referee was put into the spotlight after a handball claim by Villa against Ashley Williams. Charles N'Zogbia delivered an accurate cross to Emile Heskey who's headed chance went wide of the goal, however on closer inspection it appeared that Swansea centre back Ashley Williams' left hand may have connected with the ball. Swarbrick was in good view of the claim though and denied to give the penalty to Villa. Continuing their good spell at the end of the first half, Villa continued to pile the pressure on to Swansea in the second half. The away side capitalised on many uncharacteristic wasteful balls by Swansea, but it was a lack of communication between Garry Monk and Michel Vorm that almost led to Charles N'Zogbia being through on goal. A knocked down ball from Darren Bent appeared to be being ushered toward Michel Vorm who looked reluctant to approach, luckily for the Swans the ball had a little too much pace for N'Zogbia to capitalise on. A few minutes later another vital Villa chance culminated. Gabriel Agbonlahor, who was continuing to have great success on the left wing against Jazz Richards, had cut in on the 18 yard line to strike the ball viciously with his right foot against goal. The resultant shot swerved to put Michel Vorm on his toes and could only bat the ball away for a corner. Swansea appeared to re-ignite their style of play in the final 15 minutes of the game and by doing so creating more chances. The first came from Leroy Lita, who came on as a substitute for the injured Danny Graham. A clever through ball from Mark Gower found its way to Lita and after a clever turn to get away from James Collins his shot ran wide. The pace of Scott Sinclair was the architect for their next chance. After beating Alan Hutton on the left wing Sinclair cut in with ease, similarly to Agbonlahor's effort for Villa earlier in the game, but his shot was blocked before it could test Villa keeper Shay Given. Lita was once again involved in a chance similar to his first. This time the Swansea player navigated his shot on target but Shay Given dealt with the effort with ease. A late surge from Villa was once again spearheaded by Gabriel Agbonlahor after his shot was blocked by Leon Britton and was inches from the path of the lurking Darren Bent. On an emotional day that was overshadowed by the events prior to kick-off a draw was a fair result for both teams. The point for each teams put Swansea one place higher in 13th and Villa rise two places to 8th.