Swansea stalemate, but plenty of City optimism for next season

Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 1 - 1 Swansea City

Sky Bet Championship

MKM Stadium

Attendance: 23,036

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent

Perhaps the most astonishing thing about this encounter was the attendance – more than 23,000, City’s fourth-biggest home crowd of the season, for a dead-rubber that petered out, somewhat predictably, into a 1-1 draw.

As last week, before kick-off, City’s opponents had had the faintest chances of making the play-offs, but, just like Watford, ended the match well out of the race.

Indeed, the Swans’ top-six hopes took a huge dent in just the third minute, as the Tigers got off to a dream start.

Jean Michael Seri floated a great ball from the halfway line across to Harry Vaughan on the left, and – in eerily similar fashion to last week – the youngster raced into the box and played in Tufan, who looked for all the world to have bundled the ball in from a few yards out.

His was the name on the scoreboard and read out by the announcer, to the jubilation of the home fans – but replays showed that it was in fact Ben Cabango who had put it into his own net. So, it wasn’t to be Tufan’s ninth goal of the season. Disappointing for him, of course, but the City fans basking in the sunshine on this warm afternoon hardly cared.

As expected from two teams who favour passing play from the back, the style of football on offer was very much that. There were a couple of promising breaks in the early stages involving Vaughan that didn’t quite come off, and in the 21st minute, a shot from Adama Traore from outside the area was comfortably held by Andrew Fisher.

A couple of minutes later, Joel Latibeaudiere headed well over from close range.

On the half-hour, Tufan wrestled the ball off Nathan Wood on the halfway line and was heading clean through on goal, but the referee decided Tufan had fouled Wood, much to the displeasure of the home fans.

Despite the Tigers’ promising start, Swansea grew into the match, and levelled in the 39th minute.

A great pass by Jamie Paterson split the City defence and found Luke Cundle, who curled the ball past the diving Karl Darlow to land in the bottom-right corner of the net.

As City attempted to hit back, Ryan Manning was booked for a clumsy block on Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, yards outside the area. The resulting free kick by Traore hit the wall, moments before the half-time whistle blew.

The second half played out much the same way as the first – great initial pressure by City, with Swansea finishing the stronger, but any remaining urgency seemed to ebb away with each passing minute. No matter, though – the huge crowd seemed content to let this one play out and enjoy the vibe, and even a rendition of the Welsh national anthem from the respectable contingent of Swans fans towards the end didn’t seem to bother the home fans over-much.

Seconds after the break, City won a corner, from which a flicked header from Sayyadmanesh went wide of the left post.

Traore was then fouled just outside the area, resulting in another free kick in a dangerous position for City. This time, Tufan took it… and fired it inches wide of the right post. Some fans who’d seen it ripple the wrong side of the netting were still celebrating moments later.

In the 55th minute, Regan Slater skewed a shot well wide after a good period of neat passing play by the Tigers, and five minutes later at the other end, a fairly powerful free header from Cundle was caught by Darlow.

In the 71st minute, Tufan had another glorious chance to retake the lead as he unleashed a rocket of a shot from the edge of the area, but it rattled the crossbar.

A couple of minutes later, Xavier Simons and Greg Docherty replaced Sayyadmanesh and Seri, before a trip on Lewie Coyle on the right resulted in another free kick about 30 yards out. Traore floated it into the box, and Docherty got on the end of it, drawing a save from close range – but the flag had already gone up.

There was a standing ovation for Tufan in the 78th minute when he was replaced by Dimitrios Pelkas, and there was similar affection shown by the Tigers fans 10 minutes later when Vaughan left the field, making way for Ryan Woods. It was applause that denoted gratitude as well as hope, especially in the case of Vaughan – how impressive he’s been these past few matches, and what a prospect for next season.

A few minutes before time, a Swansea corner was hastily cleared by Pelkas in the area, as a few ranks of yellow-jacketed stewards began to file around the perimeter, presumably to avert anyone encroaching on to the pitch ahead of the planned “lap of appreciation” by the Tigers squad. After the referee’s whistle finally called time on this home campaign, a considerable number of fans stayed behind as a message on the big screen implored people not to enter the field of play.

As many had already pointed out on social media, why on earth would anyone want to mount a pitch invasion to celebrate finishing in 14th place? (And of course no one did in the end, anyway)

But that’s the point. The 2022-23 season may be all but over, but Liam Rosenior and his men are not done yet. They’ve only just got started.

In truth, this feels like the mid-season break in the middle of a US box-set drama. After a season disrupted by the winter World Cup, and the seismic change in direction after the appointment of Rosenior, this doesn’t feel quite like a natural conclusion.

There have been many times in years past when even the most ardent City fan would see the end of the season as a something of a relief – but this time we’ve been left wanting more.

And, you know, this time, you feel that we might just get it.