Gritty Swansea survive early Taylor dismissal

SWANSEA survived the first-minute sending off of Neil Taylor to earn a goalless draw against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, meaning it is all still to play for in the npower Championship play-off semi-final second leg on Monday night.

A sensational start to the game saw Taylor dismissed after only 52 seconds. The Swans defender caught Lewis McGugan on the thigh with his studs.

However, while Forest struggled to break down 10 men, the Welsh side were unfazed by their numerical disadvantage and created the better chances in the first half.

Fabio Borini was the main threat. The on-loan Chelsea forward forced Forest goalkeeper Lee Camp into saves on three occasions.

Forest finished the half on top and continued in that vein in the second half. A dipping 25-yard shot from McGugan was palmed back into the danger area by De Vries before the ball was cleared by a defender.

McGugan then produced a defence-splitting pass to pick out Cohen, but his pull-back to the edge of the box was blasted over by Earnshaw in the 55th minute.

Forest thought they had made the breakthrough after 68 minutes when Earnshaw headed home McGugan’s corner, but the Wales international was flagged offside.

FOREST: Camp, Moloney, Morgan, Chambers, Gunter, Anderson, McKenna (McCleary 72), McGugan, Cohen, Earnshaw (Tyson 71), Boyd (Tudgay 77).

SWANSEA: De Vries, Rangel, Williams, Tate, Taylor, Britton, Dobbie (Monk 4), Allen (Gower 72), Dyer, Borini (Moore 56), Sinclair.

Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral).