The end is surely nigh for manager Graham Barrow following one of the most dismal performances seen at Spotland in the last few years.

The end is surely nigh for manager Graham Barrow following one of the most dismal performances seen at Spotland in the last few years. Swansea were made to look like world beaters by Dale who were spinless throughout.

A dreadful display by Dale saw them finish off their 1998/99 home campaign in the worst possible way. Nothing went right for Dale today, and Swansea thoroughly deserved their emphatic victory. Sloppy defending, poor shooting, abuse from all sections from the crowd and a sending off (Mono - who else?)

Swansea who with a sniff of the play offs took the game to Dale right from the start, and always looked the better side. They had much of the early play and it was no surprise when they took the lead on 13 minutes. To be fair it was a super goal by the Swansea midfielder Jason Price. He picked the ball up halfway inside the Dale half, and with defenders backing off he fired in an excellent shot from the edge of the box. to send the travelling Cyril - less fans into delight.

Dale tried to get back into the match and looked quite threatening at times. Ian Bryson had the best chance when he created an excellent move. He sent the ball over a defenders head in a Paul Gascoigne Euro 96 style before sending a volley towards the visitors net, but it was a comfortable save for keeper Freestone. Dale had a number of corners before half time, but could do little with them. The ball went into space where there were no Dale players or straight to the keeper.

If the first half was bad, the second was going to get worse very quickly. Within four minutes with the ball moving towards the Dale goal, it looked a simple clearance for Andy Farrell. However he seemed to wait to control the ball, but the Swansea striker Alsop pounced on it before easily finishing.

Within a minute, we were down to ten men when Mark Monington was sent off for the fourth time this season for two trivial yellow cards. He can count himself very unlucky. Andy Morris and a Swansea player threw punches at each other later in the game, and neither got even a yellow card.

It was time for a salvage operation now and Robbie Painter was introduced if only to appease the crowd who by now were very much on the manager and team's backs. This had little impact as Swansea continued to run the show. A third goal was inevitable and it came soon after. Again poor defending allowed Price in again to rifle the ball past Edwards who dived despairingly to his left hand side but could not reach it. This third goal led to some supporters jumping up and cheering in some parts of the ground (not just the Swansea end). Unbelievable.

The highlight of the game came in the last five minutes when a Swansea fan climbed up the ladders to the television gantry, with his Welsh flag. Apparently the stewards thought he worked for the television company as he climbed the ladders. Once on the gantry, he waved his flag, before climbing through the advertising hoardings, and dropping back into the Willbutts lane from some height. With stewards moving in, he quickly evaded their tackles and ran out of the ground. It was remarked that you could tell he was a Swansea fan, because if he was a Dale fan, he would have been much higher before jumping off after this performance.

The game ended with a lot of boo's which had far reaching consequences. It was a poor, poor match.
 

Photo: Action Images

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