The world hadn’t ended as the 1990’s gave away to the year 2000, the Millennium Bug an anti-climax of ‘Steve Cooper’s Swans in a Play Off Final’ proportions. The new millennium had started pretty well for John Hollins’s Swans and by the time March had settled itself in the Swans were flying high in second place in the Division Three table.

Standing above them were Rotherham, who held a three point advantage but having played a game more than the South Wales side doggedly pursuing them. 

Come the 10th of March and excitement levels were hitting fever pitch in the city with the prospect of a Friday night game under the Vetch Field lights against play off chasing Northampton Town elevated by the presence of the Sky TV cameras – a real novelty in these long ago times.

Indeed, this would be only the fourth time in front of the Sky cameras, a win and a draw at Cardiff and a heavy Vetch Field defeat to Peterborough in the FA Cup the only other occasions.

The Swans were confident of putting on a good show, going into the game on the back of two crucial 1-0 away wins in the space of four days, Steve Watkin scoring the killer goals against Barnet and then Halifax.

Hollins was able to name an unchanged squad for the match and his biggest decision was whether to continue with the giant Julian Alsop alongside Watkin, recall wildcard striker Walter Boyd or throw A Bird into the mix. In the end, it was Tony who won out as Hollins gave in to fears about Alsop’s fitness thanks to a slight hamstring problem.

The visitors boasted a former Swansea hero in their ranks but were without their Swansea villain; winger John Hodge, fondly remembered on the Vetch terraces for his three year spell with the club, had signed from Gillingham a few days previously.

John Frain though – Swansea’s play off tormentor and all round bad egg – would miss out due to injury. 

The visitors themselves were in great form coming into the game with 10 points from the last 12  launching them right into the promotion mix in the 5th in the table.

It promised to be an exciting contest and as such a healthy seven and a half thousand fans braved the torrential rain to watch the action live rather than sitting back in their armchairs to watch it all on their television.

With referee David Crick waiting for his signal from the TV studio and commentators Rob McCaffrey and Alan Brazil ready to go, the match kicked off in the driving rain.

The visitors seemed to deal with the elements far better than their hosts as they made a strong start to the game.

The Swans, in comparison, seemed to be affected by both the rain and a case of stage fright as their normally smooth passing game mis-fired under the Vetch Field floodlights.

And so it came as a surprise when the home side snatched the lead after 18 minutes with their first real chance.

Cobblers keeper Welch carelessly kicked the ball out for a throw in near the North Bank corner flag and from the resulting throw Jason Price played in Tony Bird.

The front man, back in the starting line up for the first time in 5 months, saw his initial attempt at a cross blocked but his more dangerous second attempt reached his strike partner at the far post and Steve Watkin made no mistake from six yards for his third goal in seven days!

The home side had snatched the lead entirely against the run of play and their opponents should have been level just two minutes later. 

John Hodge swung in a quality corner which Freestone fumbled. However, the big Swans keeper immediately atoned for his error, denying Ian Sampson with his legs from close range.

Northampton continued to dominate possession without further testing Freestone on too many occasions – after all they were facing a Swans defence which was the best in Britain, statistically speaking.

Attempting to take dominant centre halves Jason Smith and Matt Bound out of the equation Hodge tried his luck from distance, but though he went close there was no cigar.

Swansea hit back with a rare chance of their own, Jason Price bursting on to a lobbed pass from Steve Jones only to slash his drive wastefully wide.

The home side suffered a blow in the 38th minute as the bang in form Watkin suffered an ankle injury forcing him off to be replaced by Alsop.

And it could have been even worse for the Swans a minute later as Canadian striker Carlo Corazzin, the division’s leading scorer with 15, looped a header towards goal from close range only to see it bulge the side netting.

Corazzin really should have done better with just 5 minutes remaining in the first half. Another wicked John Hodge corner found the prolific striker totally unmarked at the far post but to everyone’s surprise is header crashed against the post rather than bulging the net.

The Sky stats painted their own picture, one that would have had former Swans manager Russell Martin tearing his hair out of his scalp with the Swans having just 17 percent of the possession.

But as will always be the case, the most important stat was the number of goals scored, and the home side had one more than their visitors at the break.