Canaries dreaming of Wembley

As Norwich City left it left to book their place in the last 16, Swansea and QPR are knocked out and left to focus on league matters.

For our three promoted clubs finding a balance between preserving league status and going for cup glory was always going to be tough. It comes as no surprise that Norwich who are the team highest up the table are now the only side left in the FA Cup of the three sides.

Darren Pratley

We will start with Swansea’s trip to Bolton, where Brendan Rodgers made a number of changes to his starting XI and play off hero Darren Pratley came back to haunt the Swans.

A great finish from Luke Moore looked to have given the Welsh side the lead at half time but in added on time, Pratley headed home, Martin Petrov’s free kick to level up the tie.

From there on Bolton took control and an error from back up goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel gifted last year’s semi finalists the winner through Chris Eagles.

Despite rallying in the final ten minutes Rodgers’ fell short and they will return to league action against Chelsea on Wednesday, as they aim to ensure they remain clear of the trap door.

In a hotly contested lunch time kick off a dubious penalty from Juan Mata was enough to end QPR’s cup run.

Mata converted from twelve yards after Daniel Sturridge fell easily under Clint Hill’s challenge.

It had been agreed that there would be no handshakes between the two sides before the start of the game and thankfully the tie passed without much incident. Unlike Norwich and Swansea, Rangers are in serious trouble of going down and they will quickly move their focus to Wednesday night’s trip to Aston Villa.

Expect new faces come in for the game at Villa Park as Mark Hughes will look to add quality to his squad and also ship out some of the dead wood.

The one success of the cup weekend was in the Midlands as Norwich won at the Hawthorns for the second time in a number of weeks. This time it was Canadian international Simeon Jackson who struck the late winner to book a last sixteen tie at home to Championship big spenders Leicester City.

Jed Steer 

The Canaries will have been indebted to debutant keeper Jed Steer who produced a man of the match performance. He produced a number of fine saves including a sensational stop to deny Jerome Thomas.

19 year of Steer was on hand again late on to stop tie going to replay as he stopped Joe Mattock and Shane Long.

Earlier on captain Grant Holt had put Norwich ahead at the break. Mark Antoine Fortune levelled things up as he had done in the league meeting two weeks earlier.

Next up for Paul Lambert’s men is the live Sky clash with Sunderland on Wednesday as they look to extend their current six game unbeaten run. 

Mixed fortunes for our teams

As Cardiff and Wrexham’s promotion charges gather momentum, Swansea are brought back down to earth and Newport pick up a valuable point in their battle to avoid the drop.

Malky MacKay’s Bluebirds produced a stunning comeback against cash strapped Portsmouth when, Craig Conway struck a fine winner deep into injury time.

Craig Conway

Earlier on Kenny Miller had put the home side in front from an acute angle, before goals from Marko Futacs and Greg Halford either side of the break gave Pompy an unlikely lead. 

Skipper Mark Hudson got on the end of Conway’s cross to even things up and the former Dundee United midfielder rifled in a stunning winner to ensure that they went one point behind Southampton.

Meanwhile up at the Stadium of Light, Swansea were undone by two quality strikes despite dominating much of the game. The wonderful Stephane Sessegnon was a constant threat all afternoon and took his goal in spectacular fashion and was on hand to set up Craig Gardner's wonder goal, as Sunderland’s great start under Martin O’Neil continued.

Gylfi Sigurdsson, was the main threat to Sunderland all afternoon and despite having 64% of the possession Brendan Rodgers will be left ruing a chance to pick up points on the road. Scott Sinclair went close in the first half after some great work from Nathan Dyer. Chelsea loan signing Josh McEachran looked bright when he came on, in place of Sigurdsson.

The Swans now find themselves in thirteenth and eight points clear of the drop zone, although Brendan Rodgers will not get carried away until his side reach the magic forty point mark.

Andy Morrell 

As for Wrexham they picked themselves up following their midweek cup heartbreak, and stuck four past Kettering. Manager Andy Morell’s early strike gave them the lead at half time and Mark Creighton doubled the lead from close range. Kettering got themselves back into it when Djoumin Sangare finished with great aplomb, but Wrexham grew into the game. Debutant James Colbeck made an instant impact with two goals to ensure a seventh consecutive victory in the league, as Fleetwood town kept the heat on with a win at Darlington.

Down in Newport secured a crucial point despite playing for an hour with only ten men following Ismail Yakubu’s first half dismissal. The home side created enough chances to take all three points, but ultimately Justin Edinburgh will be satisfied with a solid defensive showing that sees his side remain one point ahead of trap door.

Rodgers’ Welsh Dragons Breathe Fire into the League

As Swansea beat Arsenal at their own game on Sunday, their exhilarating performance finally has the rest of the league standing up and taking notice.

After their opening weekend thrashing at the hands of Manchester City, not many would have had the Swans in the top half of the league, just over half way through the season.

Brendan Rodgers

The man who has worked beneath one of the best, in Jose Mourinho, refused point black to change his philosophy. Many before him have played great football Hull City and most recently Blackpool, but both sides ultimately failed in their goal of survival and growth in the top flight.

What has impressed me most is their solid defensive unit, and to their credit, their record has been immense. To date nine clean sheets is nothing short of remarkable. The signing of the season for me if Michel Vorm, an outstanding acquisition from Dutch outfit Utrecht for only £1.5 million leaving a number of clubs wondering how they missed out on him.

The captain, Ashley Williams looks like a player at ease at this level and the loan signing of Steven Caulker from Tottenham has proven to be yet another masterstroke from Rodgers and his backroom staff. Former Wrexham man Neil Taylor has emerged as one of brightest talents in Welsh football, in fact they did very well to hold of strong interest from Newcastle in the summer.

Joe Allen has been at the heart of all that is good from the Swans going forward. Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer have been the best pair of wingers the league has seen in a number of seasons. And then there is Wayne Routledge who finally found the net in their first away win of the campaign at Aston Villa.

Goals have been hard to come by at times this season but they did not panic and kept the faith with former Watford man Danny Graham who has come good and netted his seventh goal of the season to cap of a wonderful team display on Sunday.

Swansea have proved that playing as a team does get you success and sticking to your principles does pay off. It would have been easy for Rodgers to listen to the experts and stop ‘playing football’ because nothing was expected of his side.

With seventeen games left to play they are only fourteen points from the promise land of the forty points mark. Indeed they have been on runs where results have not quite gone and the best example being their home game against QPR where they were second best for the majority, but their solidity and ethos ensured they would have a share of the points.

Danny Graham

They have also turned games at key points such as they did against Fulham when Vorm denied Clint Dempsey from the spot and Graham netted a wonderful goal to secure all three points.  

Tactically Rodgers and Norwich City’s Paul Lambert, are miles ahead of the likes of Ian Holloway and the now departed Neil Warnock. They are a new breed of manager who are fantastic for the game, they want their teams to play football and are not afraid to stick with what they think is best for their sides.

Going forward Rodgers has the platform at Swansea to establish them in the top flight, and what a credit they have been to the whole of Wales, a worthy edition to the league and long may it continue.