Wolves show their pride in 'crazy' game
Swansea City 4 Wolverhampton Wanderers 4: Eight-goal thriller served up in front of Sir Alex Ferguson and a bemused Swansea crowd
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir Alex Ferguson was on a scouting mission to south Wales, but what the Manchester United manager made of quite a remarkable yet bizarre game is anyone's guess.
Ferguson opted to visit the Liberty Stadium with coaches Mike Phelan and Rene Meulensteen during the middle of the club's three-day break prior to tomorrow's mammoth Manchester derby and cast an eye over next weekend's opponents Swansea.
But while the Scotsman will have noted Brendan Rodgers' men are a far greater threat in attack than City counterpart Roberto Mancini's '10-0 win' claim, Ferguson and his backroom staff will have also picked up on a new formation employed by the hosts.
Rodgers changed his usual fluid 4-3-3 for a 3-4-3 diamond. Yet despite the reshuffle, Swansea raced into a three-goal lead inside 15 minutes.
Swansea manager Rodgers said: "The system worked perfectly, but we changed it at 3-0 and we conceded poor goals defensively.
"Sir Alex will think we are a team that can cause them problems. We have quality and a lot of attacking ability. If they have an off-day they will know we can score goals."
Swansea scored the fastest Premier League goal of the season inside 24 seconds when Andrea Orlandi, making only his second start since January, provided an instant impact to nod home Scott Sinclair's left-wing cross beyond Dorus de Vries.
The Dutch goalkeeper's first return to Swansea since his departure last summer on a free transfer got worse three minutes later when Joe Allen bagged a second goal for the hosts thanks to a first-time pass from Gylfi Sigurdsson and a deflection off Richard Stearman.
Ex-Barcelona midfielder Orlandi, revelling in his rare first-team opportunity, was the creator for Swansea's third goal. The Spaniard galloped down the left flank, beating Michael Kightly and Kevin Foley with ease to cross for Nathan Dyer who headed the ball inside the far post.
But already relegated Wolves refused to throw in the towel. Fletcher pulled a goal back in the 28th minute with a looping header past Michel Vorm following neat work by strike partner Kevin Doyle.
Yet the fightback appeared shortlived as Danny Graham ended a recent goal drought with a cool right-footed finish into the bottom corner.
The crazy first half continued when Matt Jarvis calmly slotted home for the sixth goal inside 33 minutes.
The second half looked like starting as did the first when ,Sigurdsson saw his 10-yard shot crash against the post.
But Wolves, to their credit, maintained their belief and in the 53rd minute Karl Henry's quickly-taken free-kick led to David Edwards sliding the ball past Vorm. The visitors grabbed a deserved share of the spoils as Jarvis grabbed his second goal of a crazy afternoon.
"Once they cleared their heads, my players were superb," said Wolves under-fire interim manager Terry Connor.
Swansea (3-4-3): Vorm; Caulker, Monk, Williams; Britton, Allen, Orlandi (Taylor, 46), Sigurdsson; Dyer, Graham (Moore, 82), Sinclair.
Wolves (4-4-2): De Vries; Foley, Stearman, Berra, Ward; Kightly, Edwards, Henry, Jarvis (Hunt, 73); Fletcher (Ebanks-Blake, 76), Doyle.
Referee Jonathan Moss.
Man of the match Jarvis (Wolves).
Match rating 9/10.
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