By the close, a draw – and so a replay – was the correct result for this FA Cup fourth-round tie. Swansea City dominated possession, but after freezing to allow Jon Stead’s equaliser for Notts County after the break, the Premier League’s bottom side should have to entertain League Two’s second-ranked team in around 10 days’ time.
County’s manager, Kevin Nolan, said: “I’m absolutely delighted. I thought the boys were fantastic, and we were unfortunate not to go in the break level, but the reaction was brilliant. The lads’ work-rate was brilliant, and the togetherness, and the communication – we were magnificent. We showed them a bit too much respect in the first half, but we rattled them early doors in the second half, which was magnificent. And we got the goal in the second half, but we couldn’t quite keep it going.”
Carlos Carvalhal, Nolan’s opposite number, claimed he was not unhappy at having a second game. “I’m not disappointed,” he said, then struck the opposite note. “It would not be the end of the world if we were out. We have to give credit to Notts County, because they used long balls and physicality to get back in the game. But after it was 1-1, we controlled the game again; we prepared the team to play against a physical team, and we could have scored with three or four chances.”
Nolan fielded his strongest XI available, with two of five changes because of suspensions, for goalkeeper Ross Fitzsimons and midfielder Matty Virtue.
Carvalhal made eight changes, with Leroy Fer, Mike van der Hoorn and Alfie Mawson surviving from the team that downed Liverpool 1-0.
The head-to-head count stood at 29 Swans wins to County’s 23, their last meeting being 13 years ago, when the home side were 1-0 victors here in League Two. Connor Roberts came close to creating the Welsh club’s first goal in the fixture since December 2004, when directing in a cross from his right-hand berth – and Richard Duffy, the County captain, had to be alert to turn the ball away for a corner.
Moments later, Renato Sanches raced clear and found Tom Carroll, County having to scramble to defend. The on-loan Bayern Munich playmaker was proving the Swans’ standout performer. It was Sanches’s shot that had Adam Collin worried when City next attacked, the ball going the safe side of the goalkeeper’s left post.
When Sanches and Carroll executed a clever free-kick that allowed the former to get in behind, Mawson did ask a question of Collin – though, again, the header was weak. So was a skyed Wilfried Bony clearance after Carl Dickinson’s free-kick, and more calamitous defending might have allowed Notts County to open proceedings.
Just after the half hour, Sanches was forced off with an injury – for Ki Sung-Yueng – and the replacement would help to break the deadlock. Before this, Bony had steered a header straight at Collin, which seemed typical of Swansea’s half. But as the interval neared, Luciano Narsingh fired home a shot, after a clever lay-off by Ki, to give his side the lead.
County’s response was an attack just after the restart, but Narsingh hooked the ball away from a long throw-in. Next, Jorge Grant thought – as did all inside Meadow Lane – that his 20-yard free-kick was the equaliser, but it went wide to Nordfeldt’s right. This head of steam continued with a menacing cross from Dickinson that drew “oohs” from the crowd, and Grant extracted a similar response when he missed with a header.
A levelling strike seemed inevitable and, on 62 minutes, it arrived via Elliott Hewitt’s cross. Swansea allowed the opposition too much time and there was Stead to finish business for a sixth goal in six games. The 34-year-old has scored in every round of the Cup so far.
Carvalhal swapped Fer for Sam Clucas, the Portuguese wanting a response from his team. This came in terms of territory, Swansea camping for prolonged periods in County’s half, but not in terms of the all-important winner.
