Andy Munro on Blues in the League Cup.

Well most Bluenoses (and apparently a scathing Lily Savage) didn’t see this one coming, particularly the many that stayed away but no doubt who ‘bothered’ to attend a certain match down at Wembley. Of course, if you were a reader of the national media you might have thought the only worthwhile game being  played was Manchester United v Liverpool but in this case they were sadly mistaken.

Swansea, once so close to extinction it gives hope to BCFC, made a lot of changes yet it included their £13m marquee signing Bony although in effective attacking terms he was about as authentic as Boney M were musically. Jo Jo Shelvey also turned out, as did De Guzman , who they even had the luxury of substituting. Anyway Blues were without six key players – Bartley, Murphy, Zigic, Linguard, Randolph and Elliott – so pro rata, it could be argued that we were weakened to a greater extent. It should also be remembered that a ‘weakened’ Swansea were good enough to hammer Valencia out of sight.

The first half saw Swansea predictably in the ascendancy but thankfully big Colin Doyle rose to the occasion with a couple of fine saves although he twice had to also thank the woodwork. One of Blues’ problems was Swansea’s ploy of playing the ball between Blues two centre halves and Swansea were once denied a certain goal by a magnificent tackle from Robbo. Blues threatened only occasionally despite playing some neat football and nil-nil at half time seemed like damage limitation before the inevitable.

However the second half saw a completely different complexion on the game as Blues powered forward down the wings using their ‘newly discovered’ 3-4-3 (or was it 4-3-3?) with great aplomb. Caddis, Burke, Hancox and Ferguson were just too hot for a beleaguered Swansea defence. The first goal was a result of a great ball in from Caddis for Burns to stoop to a normal height and head home. The second came after great work from Burke who let in a rampant Hancox whose driven ball across the box was turned home by the ecstatic Matt Green. If this wasn’t enough, some more trickery from Burke saw Tom Adeymi slot home his first goal for the club.

On the subject of Adeymi, both him and Cal.lum Reilly were awesome in midfield; harrying, chasing and winning the sort of 50-50s that would have made Robbo proud. Even a late consolation goal from the Swans failed to spoil the party.

Bring on the Potters!