Bristol C v Swansea C - Match Preview

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Last Saturday could not have gone any worse for the Swans, losing 2-0 to Millwall as well as Blackpool picking up maximum points from their game against Crewe. The result of all that is the Swans now lie 4 points adrift of Blackpool, and desperately need to take something from tomorrow's game at Bristol City.

The Swans haven't won at Ashton Gate since 1993, and we'll have our work cut out to put that record right tomorrow, as Bristol City lie 2^nd in League 1 having won 13 times at home this season, and will be backed by a sell out home crowd. It has all the makings of a Swans win ;)

On the positive side Bristol City have only won 2 of their last 6 home matches, and have suffered home defeats at the hands of Cheltenham and Bradford in recent months. As we know this league is so unpredictable, anything can happen, and anyone can beat anyone. We can beat anyone on our day and let's hope everyone plays to their ability tomorrow. If they do, I think we'll take at least a point.

Swans Boss Roberto Martinez has called on his players to keep their discipline tomorrow, especially with the home side being backed by around 15,000 home fans, the pressure will be on -

"If we want to test ourselves in terms of discipline, I don't think there's a better scene to do it than Ashton Gate. It's a huge game in a big weekend for us and we need to make sure we are ready for it. I'm confident my players will be. I'm confident they will accept responsibility and take on the challenge in front of them."

"The fact that all the sendings-off have been away from the Liberty Stadium just shows you how much of an input fans can have," the Swansea boss added.

"That's why it's so important that fans get behind their team from the first minute to the last, because they do affect referees' decisions. Referees have to make a decision in a split second, and sometimes having the crowd on top of them makes that decision a lot easier. That's why I've said all along that the fans can be our 12th player."

The atmosphere is a factor not lost on Robins captain Louis Carey, who scored the winner in the corresponding fixture last season -

"It's fair to say matches against Swansea are always memorable occasions,'' he said.Of course it was memorable for all the wrong reasons last season. A 7-1 defeat - the less said about that the better. But I do enjoy playing against Swansea as the atmosphere is always fantastic. But we are looking for nothing less than six points over this Easter weekend.''

Of course Saturday is the first of 2 games in 48 hours for the Swans. We welcome Port Vale to the Liberty on Monday in what is the umpteenth must win game of the season. It would be great to go into that game on the back of a positive result at Ashton Gate.

Team News

The Swans will be without Alan Tate who starts a two-match ban after his dismissal at The Den, with Richard Duffy and ex-Bristol City defender Kevin Amankwaah both hoping to secure the vacant right-back spot. Strikers Lee Trundle and loan-signing Darryl Duffy could also come into the frame after starting on the bench at Millwall.

No team news available for Bristol City at the time of writing.

Verdict

So we enter the Easter period, the time of the season which invariably makes or breaks a season. It couldn't be truer in our case. A defeat tomorrow would be a massive blow for us, and even though Bristol City are 2^nd in the table, it's time we started to mix it with the top sides in the league. It's simple in my eyes, we need a minimum of 4 points over this weekend. I think most people would be happy with a point tomorrow, and you couldn't argue with that, but why shouldn't we go there and win? We've been hearing about how talented the squad is, Jackett said it, the players have said it, and Martinez has said it, so we shouldn't be going to Bristol City with any fear. It's time to prove how good we really are.

I'm going for a 2-1 win to the Swans.