When the first half ended, Victoria Park was filled with boos.
The ho supporters had clearly run out of patience. They were extrely dissatisfied with Hartlepool United's performance.
"I heard the whole Swansea squad drove here themselves!"
"They didn't inspect the pitch, didn't warm up, and just went straight into the match!"
"How can you be two goals down at ho? What kind of crap are you playing?"
"Boooo!"
Piercing boos echoed throughout the stadium.
Lynn glanced indifferently at Keith Turner, then walked into the players' tunnel.
Keith Turner followed behind him with a gloomy expression.
Once the players had returned to their dressing rooms, the sound of a door being slamd heavily could clearly be heard from the direction of the ho dressing room.
Keith Turner was furious!
In the Swansea dressing room, however, Lynn praised every player. He said to them, "I know today's situation was not within our expectations, but we overca the difficulties and made it to this coastal city in northeast England. Since we ca here, we are taking the three points with us!"
"Exactly! And Zlatan and Angelos, those two unreliable bastards, caused us non-combat losses!"
Cromwell deliberately put on a furious expression, as though gnashing his teeth.
Lynn waved his hand. "Forget about those two for now. Take a short rest. In the second half, keep performing properly. Hartlepool United wanted to get three free points from us? Let them dream!"
After the brief half-ti break, both teams returned to the pitch and changed ends for the second half.
Keith Turner restrained his touchline behavior sowhat. He stood by the side of the pitch with a dark expression, watching the match.
Only when Swansea launched threatening attacks would he beco emotional and shout instructions at his players.
"Mark him tightly! Mark Swansea's number seven! Don't let him have a chance to control the ball!"
"Westwood! Stick to Swansea's forward! Yes, that number eleven! Don't let him play you lot like stupid donkeys!"
During half-ti, Keith Turner had adjusted his defense.
He had strengthened the marking on Jas Cook and Villa.
That caused Swansea to run into strong resistance when they tried to launch attacks in the second half.
Lynn had originally hoped Grosso could create so danger, but Grosso had played continuously recently. On top of that, today's preparation had been far from ideal, and the journey had drained him quite a bit. In the second half, Grosso could no longer charge forward with the sa energy!
Lynn glanced at the bench.
Today's original plan had been for Tobias Rau to rest, which was why Evra had started. Now Grosso could no longer sprint, and the prepared substitute was eighteen-year-old Horatio Nelson.
Lynn walked over to Nelson and told him to warm up. Nelson imdiately rushed to the touchline and began jogging and stretching.
Before Swansea could make their substitution, in the 56th minute, Poulsen brought down Hartlepool's wide midfielder Istead near the left side of Swansea's defensive third.
Hartlepool United were awarded a set piece in the attacking half.
Istead personally stepped up to take it. The penalty area was packed with players. Hartlepool United had the highest scoring rate from set-piece attacks in the league. Corners and free kicks were their best ways of breaking through.
Forwards Foley and Gabbiadini drew the attention of Swansea's two centre-backs inside the box. As Istead delivered the ball, both forwards ran together toward the near post.
Friedrich and Brunel imdiately followed, afraid of losing their marking targets.
But after taking two steps, they were stunned to discover that neither forward was actually running toward the dropping point.
In that instant, Friedrich realized it.
This was a decoy run!
He turned his head and saw a considerable gap had opened up at the far post.
The ball, tracing a faint arc through the air, dropped rapidly. The players at the near post jumped but could not reach it. The players in the middle of the goalmouth reacted too slowly.
When the ball fell toward the far post, Anthony Sweeney bent forward, threw himself into a diving motion, and used his forehead to smash it into Swansea's net!
"Hartlepool United pull one back! Hahaha, this is their best attacking thod! Their set-piece bombardnt has broken through the opponent's goal once again!
"The suspense is back! Hartlepool United now trail Swansea by only one goal!"
Keith Turner slamd his right fist into his left palm and waved his arms toward the pitch, shouting, "That's it! Play like that! Co on, lads! One more! Take down Swansea for !"
Lynn, however, looked composed on the touchline.
He called Horatio Nelson over, put an arm around his shoulder, and said beside his ear, "We scored two goals in the first half. Do you rember how they happened?"
Nelson nodded seriously.
Lynn asked again, "Do you know what thod allowed us to score?"
"Combining the wings with the middle. The flank raids were very important!"
Lynn said with satisfaction, "Mm, that's right. You'll go on and replace Fabio. Rember, once you're on the flank, you need to bring energy. The space behind their wing-back is actually huge. Use your own strengths. And rember, you must observe your teammates' runs more."
Horatio Nelson nodded solemnly to show that he understood.
The reason Lynn said so much to Nelson was because Nelson did not have a single card on him.
If he went onto the pitch, he would have to rely entirely on his original ability. At most, he had grown faster under the daily guidance of Swansea's increasingly improved coaching staff.
In the 60th minute, Swansea made their substitution.
Grosso ca off, and Nelson entered the match.
Hartlepool United's attacks remained fierce. Unfortunately for them, their positional attacks still struggled to break through Swansea's defensive line. Their set pieces, however, remained highly threatening.
In the 65th minute, Foley t Humphreys's corner with a header but sent it over. On the touchline, Keith Turner watched the ball skim over the goal, then turned and held his head as though he wanted to bury himself in a crack in the ground.
As Hartlepool United's attacks grew stronger and stronger, the battles between Swansea and their opponents beca increasingly intense.
In the 69th minute, Gabbidon and Pedretti trapped Humphreys near the flank. Humphreys was forced to try breaking past Gabbidon, but Gabbidon positioned himself successfully and caused Humphreys to lose control of the ball.
The ball rolled out over the touchline.
Gabbidon imdiately stepped outside the line and picked up the ball. He raised his head to look toward the front, quickened his steps, ran forward two paces, and then assud the standard posture for a throw-in.
The instant he hurled the ball out with both hands, many people gasped in astonishnt.
"My God! How did he throw it that far?"
"His arm strength is incredible!"
On the touchline, Lynn nodded slightly.
Gabbidon had been influenced by the Long Throw-In S-card. The power of his long throws was finally beginning to reveal itself.
His powerful throw surprised the Hartlepool United players who were retreating to defend.
Anthony Sweeney, who had dropped back to help defend the flank, suddenly saw the ball flying toward a spot three ters beside him. While retreating, he hurriedly changed direction to intercept it, only to see the ball bounce one ter away from him and fly behind him.
His eyes filled with shock.
His interception had failed!
Keith Turner shouted, "What are you doing? Get back and defend!"
Because everyone saw that the bouncing ball was flying toward the direction of Jas Cook's run.
Jas Cook ran to the edge of the defensive line, stopped, and controlled the ball that was flying in from behind and about to land for a second ti.
At that mont, Westwood charged toward him.
Jas Cook nudged the ball sideways to create passing space, then used the inside of his foot to play a straight pass into Villa's feet.
Behind Villa, Hartlepool's two centre-backs, Nelson and Van Domle, were forming a pincer movent to block him.
Villa received the ball with his back to goal. Seeing another teammate's run, he decisively half-turned and swept a diagonal pass into the penalty area.
The right side of Hartlepool United's box was completely empty!
The ball rolled into that space, and Horatio Nelson, who had only just co on for Swansea, stord into the penalty area like the wind!
He cut inside into the box and had just stopped the ball in front of him when goalkeeper Konstantopoulos rushed off his line.
Nelson pushed the ball one step forward. It seed he did not have much confidence in his own shot.
At that mont, Van Domle also charged diagonally toward him, which ant Villa — who had been blocked jointly by Van Domle and Nelson — was suddenly freed!
As Konstantopoulos rushed in front of him, Nelson squared the ball across!
For the middle, it was already an open goal!
Van Domle turned his head and looked back. He knew all hope now rested on Nelson.
But Nelson lost the footrace with Villa!
Villa reached the goalmouth first and poked the ball into the empty net with the tip of his boot!
A very easy goal!
After scoring, Villa pointed at Horatio Nelson and embraced him. Together, they raised their fists toward the small away supporters' section and roared passionately.
"Swansea score again! David Villa gets his second! Lynn has once again worked his substitution magic!
"Substitute Horatio Nelson seized the chance with his run. After breaking into the penalty area, he calmly crossed to assist Villa for an empty-net finish.
"My God, Swansea really are giving people the mysterious feeling of hidden dragons and crouching tigers!
"How many good cards does Lynn still have in his hand?
"No one is criticizing him anymore for spending tens of millions of pounds on signings as though it were waste. The players he bought, along with the previously overlooked players he promoted from within the club, have brought returns far beyond their cost!
"Swansea's youth storm is sweeping across Division Three!"
Many substitute players and coaches walked to the touchline and applauded Villa's goal together with Lynn.
In truth, they were applauding Nelson even more!
Through countless days of training, Nelson had practiced privately. When training his speed and stamina, he had gritted his teeth, persisted, and even roared hysterically just to keep himself going!
Nelson was a symbol of struggle in training.
He had been waiting for his chance.
When it was finally his turn to perform, he absolutely would not miss it!
Now, he was showing himself freely on the pitch, just as he loved showing off his dazzling dance steps to girls in nightclubs!
Keith Turner pressed one hand to his forehead, looking completely caught off guard. On the pitch, Hartlepool United's players also felt their scalps go numb.
Their manager had said Swansea were exhausted from travel and that their combat power had dropped sharply!
But the reality seed to be the complete opposite.
Swansea's combat power was not only through the roof — every one of them looked lively and full of energy.
Hartlepool felt as though they were the ones more exhausted!
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