SWANSEA AWAY – Image Gallery

A 400 mile round trip represents our longest voyage of the season which made the 1,500 following a decent effort.

After a rather unfortunate but nevetheless picturesque detour through the Brecon Beacons we arrived into Swansea not long after 1pm and joined dozens of other Reds and plenty of home fans inside the Harvester right by the ground. The outside cans bar was a decent idea even if £3.50 was a rather excessive mark-up.

Inside the ground I soon remembered a strange quirk of the Liberty Stadium. I’m not sure if anyone noticed it but the ground becomes eerily silent once the singing stops. The home fans to our left made a decent noise at times but when it faded there was nothing. Not the usual murmuring or odd shouts. For a stadium which can be electric it’s an odd juxtaposition.

Swansea fans also rival Millwall for being the most outraged at such trivial matters. For every minor incident, many of which were totally fair challenges, they were up en masse demanding justice. Some might call it trying to create an intimidating venue, I’d probably lean towards a poor understanding of football. Although moaning for the sake of it is certainly something we Forest fans are accustomed to.

The game itself was a significant improvement from our last outing at Brentford and, dare I say, most other games this season. We weren’t a finished article and nor did we fashion many great chances but we dominated a decent Swansea team for much of the game and should have left South Wales with a first away win of the season. The frustration many of us felt at not securing three points was certainly tempered by the uplifting performance. I’be noted already this season that, despite out failings, we try and win games until the end. Obviously we aren’t doing enough but I admire the attempts rather than sitting on a draw.

Considering the West Brom game was full of early season excitement and, sadly, more of a flash in the pan in terms of our early season form, this game was perhaps the first real glimpse of what we are aiming to become. Sloppiness in possession and the odd scare aside we seemed like a side that is having a style drilled into them. The maiden appearance of Saidy Janko was wonderful and caused the Swans numerous problems all the way down the right. Others stood out too and with some composure in front of goal, notably Cash and Osborn, we would have surely won the game.

I left Brentford dismayed at our weakness and our inability to compete; looking forward to the two week break more than anything. I left Swansea with renewed hope and hopeful about the upcoming home games we now face. It’s vital we don’t take another step back.