SWANSEA V CARDIFF: THE LAST DERBY @ VETCH

In November 1998 Swansea hosted their rivals at the Vetch, long before any genuine talk of the ‘Morfa Stadium’. Little did we know at the time but this was to be the last encounter between these two sides at the true home of football in glorious Swansea. And like many of those before them, it turned out to be a cracker.

The build-up and atmosphere was as to be expected as Matthew Bound remembers “It was the usual lead up to it, loads of stuff in the press, big day, first game where away fans were allowed back in the ground if I remember rightly. It was very evident that the police were on eggshells. The helicopter was out and all that. The build-up before the game for us was ‘don’t get sent off, keep eleven players on the pitch and don’t concentrate on what the fans were doing.’

Despite the team talk, for Swansea, in the first half they were completely on the back foot “We were atrocious in first half, could have been a few down in reality. Roger saved a few crackers in first half. Think we went in at half-time 1-0 down.”.

The Swans were behind inside five minutes as the ‘Flying Post-man’, Swansea old boy John Williams hooked the ball home after a bit of naïve defending from the Swans. Cardiff could have easily extended their lead as Middleton, Ford and Nugent all had decent chances but failed to find the net.

Cardiff continued to press but Mr Roger Freestone who holds the record for the most derby appearances cemented himself even more of a Swans legend.

Jason Smith nearly put the ball through his own net but Rog’ pulled off an unbelievable save to prevent it from going 2-0 before another immense save from a Nugent effort just before half-time. At 1-0 the Swans were still in the game but needed a change.

The change came in Julian Alsop who lifted the Vetch and those around him. The Swans were suddenly testing the Cardiff defence and were able to get far more of a stranglehold of the game. In the 69th minute the Cardiff keeper Jon Hallworth saved twice from Jason Smith before the ball landed at Martyn ‘Psycho’ Thomas who slotted home the equaliser. ‘Psycho’ had a habit of scoring important goals and this was no different, the Vetch went wild and suddenly the game was there to be won.  

Cardiff lost the Flying postman through injury. A strange moment for the Vetch field seeing one of their ex-loved players being stretchered off in a Cardiff shirt at the Vetch…. I’ll let you guess the reaction.

The game was drifting out for a draw as Swansea won a corner in the last-minute of time as the North Bank roared. Richie Appleby swung the ball in, a certain Mr Nick Cusack flicked the ball on and that man Matt Bound who kept his composure and drilled in the winner.

The match winner remembers “with about 1 mins left, I’ll say from 25 yards out but really it was about 6. I just stuck laces through it and went in. A really great feeling. Living in the city, you realise how much it means to everyone. It’s unheard of to score the winner in the last few minutes of a derby and I’m privileged to have done it. We all went out for a few beers after the game to enjoy with the fans. I think I was bought a few…… I was in a pickle when I got home anyway”.

Many a drinks were drunk by many a folk in Swansea. Incredible to think that was to be the final derby game at the Vetch but what a match to end it.

SWANSEA CITY: R. Freestone, S. Jones, M. Howard, N. Cusack, J. Smith, M. Bound, J. Price, M. Thomas, A. Newhouse, S. Watkin, R. Appleby.SUBS: J. Alsop, L. Jenkins, S. Roberts.

CARDIFF CITY: J. Hallworth, M. Delaney, M. Ford, G. Mitchell, S. Young, R. Carpenter, J. Fowler, W. O’Sullivan, J. Williams, K. Nugent, C. Middleton.SUBS: D. Hill, C. Allen, J. Eckhardt.

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The Last derby at Ninium Park
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