Swansea City 1 Leyton Orient 2 - Black Swan

My first trip to the Liberty Stadium didn't start off well. I had planned on leaving home at about 11.00 for the two and a half hour drive to South Wales and had my passport at the ready and had been given my jabs.
As I got out of the shower at 9.30 my wife showed me the paper and the fixture lists - kick off was set for 12.50!
Within five minutes I was dressed and in the car. Fortunately I made it with an hour to spare and I'm expecting to receive the first of several speeding tickets later this week.
The experience reminded me of a story another reporter once told me about his own cock up. As he was driving along the M4 on the way to a Reading match he decided to switch radio channels just in time to hear that the Royals were three goals up. He eventually got to the game with thirty minutes to go and managed to blag it.
Having stopped sweating, I have to admit that Swansea have a great set up and is an extremely hospitable club. A complimentary plate of hash browns, fried bacon and beans before kick off certainly helped get me in the mood.
The game itself was a typical FA Cup smash and grab job. Orient defended well, but only had one real attempt on goal an dyer won the game 2-1.
Midfielder Jimmy Smith nodded past former Chelsea team mate Yves Ma-Kalambay for the first in the 35th minute and admitted afterwards:
"He's a big lump of a keeper and I thought he was going to knock my brains out."
While I wouldn't wish ill on any player, I know exactly what Smith was saying. Ma-Kalambay is 6' 6" and should have clattered his old pal, but instead he flapped and the League One underdogs took the lead.
Swansea had numerous chances to equalise before Dutch striker Cedric van der Gun nodded in Darren Pratley's cross on the stroke of half time.
The main reason that City only had one goal going into the break was due to some superb keeping by Jamie Jones. The 21 year old pulled off three great saves in the first fifteen minutes and then started the second half in the same manner by blocking a point blank van der Gun effort from only twelve yards. He then added a fingertip save from Pratley and at that point Swansea must have realised it wasn't going to be their day.
It certainly wasn't skipper Alan Tate's.
Two minutes before the end substitute Paul-Jose M'Poku - an eighteen year old winger on loan from Spurs until the end of the season - whipped in a low cross from the right and Tate sliced his clearance into the back of his own net.
Tate was obviously gutted after the match, but pointed out that:
"Better players than me have scored own goals. What is important is how we bounce back from this because we still have a lot to play for in the league."
Indeed they have. Swansea are in a great position to push for promotion to the Premier League and despite this result, I have to say that they have the infrastructure in place as the Liberty Stadium is top notch.
I can't really pass comment on the team as far as the Championship is concerned. Not on a one-off game, but they must be doing something right this season to be sitting in fourth place in the table and at least they won't be struggling to find a way past Jamie Jones in the run in.

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun