Archived News from March 2004
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STAGSNET`S STATISTICAL PREVIEW
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Swansea, one of three Welsh teams in the Nationwide, is another team who has swapped their names during their league career playing the Stags. The club, best known for the rapid rise from the old 4th to the old 1st division between 1977-78 and 1981-82, were first known as Swansea Town and changed their name to Swansea City due to the place being a city in February 1970.
The first league games between the Stags and the Swans were played in the 1965-66 season, one in which both teams avoided relegation with just a couple of points. And the Stags won at home as well as away. The home tie was played on October 16, 1965 and won 3-0 (scorers Lee from a penalty – his only Stags league goal - , Middleton and Scanlon) in front of 6767, thus ending a poor spell with only two points from seven games. The away one was first due to being played just before Christmas. But with the Stags leading 3-2 after nearly an hour, the game had to be abandoned due to a water-logged pitch. When the game eventually was replayed on March 1, 1966, it proved to be the first Stags away win since the start of that season to the tune of 2-1 (scorers Anderson and Mitchinson, attendance 8887). This proved to be a pointer for the Stags playing at Swansea, as the next two away ties also were won. The 3-0 in 1965-66 proved to be a pointer as the Stags have won nine of the previous 16 league games against the in the FA Cup high-flying Swans who one week prior to the original schuled date avenged a 1963-64 semi-finals defeat against Preston by winning 2-1 – actually the same scored with which Preston reached the FA Cup final against – of all teams – West Ham. In fact, Swansea have failed to score at Field Mill in TEN of the previously played league encounters. The latest meeting at Field Mill attended by just over 3000 (3240 to be exact, 178 from Swansea) on December 1, 2001 saw the Stags triumph 3-0 thanks to two Greenacre goals and one from loan player Matt Piper (who earlier this season visited the Mill in a Sunderland shirt). A 3-0 stuffing was also handed out in the 1974-75 season during a spell of 22 consecutive league games with at least a goal scored. In these days, the Stags played mid-week home games on Mondays. A such was October 7, 1974 when 3672 watched McCaffrey, Laverick and Clarke clipping the Swans. The biggest Stags win was a 4-0 home success on October 24, 1989, when two goals from Stringfellow, one apiece from Christie (Trevor Christie, to be exact!) and Kent contributed to the rout. And the 2-0 on November 3, 1990 with two goals from Steve Wilkinson in front of just 2200 ended the Stags worst-ever home start of a season (just one point from seven games). Note: when the Stags had their home goal famine at the start of the 1971-72 season, they had amassed three points from the first seven home games in comparison. Earlier this season, the Stags lost 4-1 at Swansea under scandalous circumstances before and under the game. First getting a below-par ticket allocation, Swansea making it all-ticket for Stags fans in very short notice ensuring only 230 Stags fans making the long trek to South Wales, then during the game, a rookie ref who according to the Stagsnet report couldn't handle the game and rated 4 by the reporter, sent two Stags players off and none from the home side! On the experiences of treatment of Stags supporters at Swansea on August 30, 2003 that I have heard of courtesy of the Stagsnet mb, I will not comment – and not due to the fact that I wasn't there myself (had booked my UK holiday in October 2003 only days before the Swansea away game!). And on the original scheduled date, January 31, 2004, the game was called off due to Field Mill being waterlogged. Overall, nearly TEN visiting players have been sent off at Swansea so far this season in league games, a record??? (Huddersfield two, Lincoln one, Southend THREE but won!) are the other clubs apart from the Stags who've had players sent off at Swansea. Add to that, a Macclesfield player in a FA Cup 3rd round tie at Vetch Field. The clubs have also faced each other once in the FA Cup, and that was in the 1950-51 season when the Stags KO'ed the Swans 2-0 at Field Mill in the third round on January 6, 1951 with Freddie Steele scoring twice in front of 18000. But the two clubs have something else in common: both sending West Ham crashing out of the FA Cup. The Swans did it 30 years after the Stags' memorable 3-0 show in 1969 – the Swans won a 3rd round home replay 1-0 after drawing 1-1 at Upton Park with the Hammers equalizing in the final minutes in 1998-99 when the Swans then were playing in division 3 and Hammers in the Premier League. While the Stags' home game against Oxford was abandoned at half-time under controversial circumstances, the Swans were able to fulfil theirs by beating Scunthorpe 4-2, the first game after a managerial upheaval. Brian Flynn departed in midweek – to me hard to understand considering the Swans having a fairly good league campaign and had enjoyed their best FA Cup run for years. Must have happened something behind the scenes? Played for both sides: Graham Brown (goalie in the 70's), Glynn Hurst (on loan for both sides, sent off for Chesterfield at Notts County last Saturday). Home stats: P 16, W 9, D 4, L 3, GF 27, GA 11 Away stats: P 17, W 7, D 1, L 9, GF 20, GA 29 FA Cup: P 1, W 1, D 0, L 0, GF 2, GA 0 (FA Cup 3rd round in 1950-51 at Field Mill) Season Home Date Away Date 1965-66 3-0 1965-10-16 2-1 1966-03-01 Div 3 (old) – as Swansea Town 1966-67 1-2 1967-04-08 1-0 1966-11-12 Div 3 (old) – as Swansea Town 1970-71 2-0 1971-04-13 4-2 1970-09-12 Div 3 (old) – as Swansea City from thence onwards 1971-72 0-2 1971-09-11 1-1 1972-03-24 Div 3 (old) 1973-74 2-1 1973-09-15 0-2 1974-01-12 Div 4 (old) 1974-75 3-0 1974-10-07 2-1 1974-10-01 Div 4 (old) 1978-79 2-2 1979-04-23 2-3 1978-10-17 Div 3 (old) 1988-89 0-0 1989-05-02 1-3 1988-11-08 Div 3 (old) 1989-90 4-0 1989-10-24 0-1 1990-03-10 Div 3 (old) 1990-91 2-0 1990-11-10 2-1 1991-02-23 Div 3 (old) 1992-93 3-3 1993-01-30 0-4 1992-08-22 Div 2 1996-97 0-0 1996-10-12 2-3 1997-04-19 Div 3 1997-98 1-0 1998-05-02 1-0 1997-10-21 Div 3 1998-99 1-0 1998-08-29 0-1 1999-02-23 Div 3 1999-2000 0-1 2000-04-24 1-0 1999-10-02 Div 3 2001-02 3-0 2001-12-01 0-2 2002-03-16 Div 3 2003-04 (at Vetch Field) 1-4 2003-08-30 Div 3 Svante Bernhard aka Sweden Stag (pictured, above right) |
Latest | March 2004