Swansea City Football Club News

• Nickname:Swans
• Founded:1912
• Manager:Brendan Rodgers

• Ground:The Liberty Stadium
• Capacity:20,000

Swans expecting keeper blow

22 Oct 2008 - 12:34:56

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Swansea City expect to be without Dorus de Vries for a significant period after the goalkeeper suffered a suspected double fracture of the jaw and cheekbone during Tuesday's goalless draw with QPR.

The Dutchman was stretchered off midway through the first half at the Liberty Stadium and defender Alan Tate was forced to play the remainder of the game as makeshift keeper as Swans boss Roberto Martinez did not have any back-up on the bench.

"You make decisions for a reason," explained Martinez. "We have won a lot of points and games through the substitutions and that's what we cover with five subs.

"When there are five subs, there are areas you can cover and having a goalkeeper on the bench always reduces your chances and that's a gamble we have to take.

"It's the same if you don't have a left-back on the bench. You are taking that position and you become exposed.

"When you lose your goalkeeper, you really have to squeeze high up and work extremely hard.

"They only had one shot - off target - in the second half and one corner in the whole game and that tells you the whole story.

"We had 25 attempts, seven on target and 11 corners."