Ipswich Town 1 Swansea City 0: Swans pay for Trundle call

Things have come to a pretty pass in the FA Cup when Swansea City turn up for a fourth-round tie and leave their best player on the substitutes' bench. Lee Trundle may earn his living in League One but the striker is good enough to feature in the Championship and is certainly of a high enough calibre to frighten a defence like Ipswich's, which was missing its first-choice central pair.

Instead, Kenny Jackett, the Swansea manager, left Trundle to watch from the sidelines while he stuffed the midfield with five players. It was a policy Jackett defended before admitting he may have been wrong.

"I'd have to think about whether I regret dropping Lee," he said. "Through his recent suspension it has been a game plan to have five in midfield.

"I felt Ipswich are a very good footballing side. If we didn't match them in midfield in terms of numbers, then at the start of the game the crowd would get behind them, their tails would get up and they would have too much possession." So Trundle was the fall guy.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing," added Jackett. "Whether I should have put him up against a second-string defence will go through my mind."

For Jackett's opposite number, Jim Magilton, it made for an easier afternoon, if not one that was ever pleasing to the eye. The Ipswich manager said: "Swansea came with a game plan that didn't include Trundle, and that plan was to frustrate us."

Trundle was introduced but only when the visitors had fallen behind to Alan Lee's penalty, awarded after Jaime Peters was fouled by Tom Williams. He showed what he can do by ghosting past one defender and taking the Ipswich goalkeeper Lewis Price out of play before setting up Thomas Butler, who just failed to make contact with the ball.

However, he had come on too late and Swansea's Cup hopes had gone, leaving Ipswich to progress to the fifth round instead.

Goal: Lee pen (64) 1-0

Ipswich Town (4-4-2): Price; Sito, Naylor (Casement, 61), Wilnis, Harding; Peters, G Williams (Haynes, 85), Legwinski, Roberts; Lee, Clarke (Garvan, 69). Substitutes not used: Supple (gk), O'Callaghan. Swansea City (4-5-1): Gueret; Duffy, Lawrence, Iriekpen, T Williams (Painter, 85); Britton, Pratley (Trundle, 66), Tate, Robinson, Butler; Akinfenwa (Abbott, 78). Substitutes not used: Oakes (gk), Jones. Referee: N Miller (Co Durham).

Booked: Ipswich Lee, Sito; Swansea Gueret, Britton, T Williams, Robinson, Pratley, Duffy.

Man of the match: Peters.

Attendance: 16,635.