It would be uncharitable if we did not commiserate to some extent with Swansea City, who held out until six minutes from time in last Saturday's FA Cup tie.
The Swans had battled gallantly for a replay, but a couple of goals in the space of some 30 seconds made the remaining exchanges a formality.
It had been very much a tactical exercise until we made the late breakthrough, as the visitors were using a formation that blanketed the space in and around their penalty-area. In turn, this imposed limitations on their attacking propensities, but made it necessary for us to ensure that their occasional breakaways did not catch us napping.
In that respect our back four did a very good job, and laid a solid foundation upon which to build up the plays that eventually met with the necessary successes.

First Scorer - Paul Allen	Second Scorer - David Cross

We had gone near to scoring earlier on, but a couple of fine saves and the frittering of an opportunity here and there kept the welsh side in with a chance, and they were evidently looking forward to playing us again at Vetch Field last tuesday.
It was a belief shared by many as the minutes ticked away; indeed there was always the possibility that the Swans might avoid a replay by "nicking" a decider. Their frustration was understandable, and manager John Toshack minced no words when he blamed experienced defenders for eventually conceding the first goal by retreating instead of going forward to stifle David Cross before he could make the shot that led to us going ahead.
Paul Allen was very alert to slip the rebound past a disarranged defence, and although Cross scored a very good goal within a minute to completely settle the issue it was something of an anti-climax as far as the Swans were concerned.
So there we were, into the Quarter-Final for the first time sice 1975; prior to that we last reached the sixth round when we previously won the FA Cup in 1964 - it could be a happy omen!