An entertaining 5-3 victory played in typical Swansea drizzle.
In the first half, we cut through the Ipswich defence at will. We got 2 early goals and it really could have been more even then. Although we started with a back 3 of Jones, Ludvigsen and Blythe, the team quickly settled into a fluid 4-1-4-1 formation, with Cotterill sitting in front of the defence and Azeem Abdulai pushed up alongside Tiv Rushesha in a lively attacking formation. Widemen Joe Thomas and Liam Smith frequently joined Ruben Davies up front and we caused Ipswich all sorts of problems, frequently getting behind a static back 4.
On 4 minutes, Davies outran his marker, latching onto a firm and low Ludvigsen clearance to convincingly beat Williamson. Davies had already gone close again, sliding Rushesha’s precise pass wide, before putting the Swans 2 up on 9 minutes. Another neat through ball put him clear – Davies had to go wide around the keeper but managed to get his shot away, a despairing Ipswich defender could only help the ball into the net.
Ipswich had barely threatened and had already lost a player through injury by the time Davies found himself all alone in front of goal to side foot in his hat trick on 22 minutes, Rushesha’s return header form a poorly cleared corner catching the visitors flat footed.
Davies got his 4th on 35 minutes, a simple finish after pickpocketing the goalkeeper who’d been given a difficult backpass to control.
Our football was free flowing, Cotterill orchestrating most moves from the back and with each of our midfield playing his part.
We didn’t necessarily lose our grip on the match after the interval – we kept creating chances, it was just that Ipswich converted theirs and made life surprisingly uncomfortable for our side in the closing stages – particularly after their adventurous left back Barbrook had hooked in the visitors’ 3rd on 85 minutes. At the other end, Davies struck the underside of the bat from a Smith lay off, Abdulai went close on numerous occasions, including a chip tipped against the crossbar on 70 minutes.
Ipswich had pulled 2 goals back by this time – both coming down our exposed right flank (Anthony Wright had something to say about that). The teams continued to slug it out for the remainder of the game – Ipswich definitely improved with their substitutions and their big no 10 Foyo was a formidable roaming presence. Abdulai had been very unlucky to be booked on 52 minutes and it was evident that the visitors were doing their level best to get him dismissed. He showed great discipline without losing his aggressive edge. Fair play to the referee, who was very good throughout and took the time to explain his decisions without patronising the players.
Sub Corey Hurford made what now seems a habitual welcome late stage contribution, finishing neatly in added time to finally close the game down. He’d taken over the left wing role with Liam Smith going to the right.
It was good to see Kyrell Wilson back in action after a long spell out with injury. He had a golden chance to break through from a storming 50 yard run by Ben Blythe, but couldn’t hold onto possession.
It will have annoyed the team to ‘lose’ the 2nd half – it probably would have annoyed them not to have kept a clean sheet in what was otherwise a very impressive team performance. Our defence looked generally secure in possession and both Harry Jones and Sam Leverett added to our attacking threat. Liam Smith had another promising outing, he has close control that makes him an exciting talent to watch and must be a difficult player to defend against. Even if some of his moves didn’t always come off, Abdulai flourished in a surprisingly more advanced role. Tiv Rushesha shaded man of the match for me – always making himself available, great tenacity in challenges and always constructive and looking for carefully threaded through balls.
Ruben Davies roved around, took his chances well, he could even have got more goals! His substitution allowed him to take deserved applause. There was also an announcement that this was Jon Grey’s farewell game here.
Line-up: Remi Mitchell; Harry Jones, Kai Ludvigsen, Ben Blythe, Sam Leverett; Joel Cotterill; Joe Thomas (sub Corey Hurford 46m), Tiv Rushesha, Azeem Abdulai, Liam Smith; Ruben Davies (sub Kyrell Wilson 81m).
Goals: Davies 1-0 (4m), Davies 2-0 (9m), Davies 3-0 (22m), Davies 4-0 (35m), Foyo 4-1 (62m), Edwards 4-2 (66m), H Barbrook 4-3 (85m), Hurford 5-3 (90m+).
Ipswich made a further substitution missing from the official site report – Ayoola replacing Jeffers on 60 minutes.