By Gareth Vincent
South Wales Evening Post

It seemed for a while as though Swansea City would need their very own Nigel Bannister to get a result against Burnley this weekend.

Bannister, in case you have not already been amazed, is an assistant referee who shot to fame on Saturday after awarding Reading a goal against Watford when he should have flagged for a corner.

On a day when their attacking efforts were stifled by a well-organised Burnley side, it appeared Swansea might need something equally extraordinary to find a way through.

Roberto Martinez's reshuffled team had lacked sparkle and verve in what goes down comfortably as their most frustrating day on home soil this season.

And despite the fact that they eventually broke the Clarets' defence — with no help from the officials and in considerable style — some of that frustration will linger even now.

For Martinez is struggling to understand the Championship.

He thought Swansea's promotion to the second tier would herald a new era at the Liberty Stadium, one where the division's established clubs would come to Wales and expect to depart three points better off.

It was a scenario Swansea rarely if ever faced last season, when opponents arrived in search of stalemates against one of League One's big-hitters.

Martinez relished the prospect of a change of approach. He thought visiting sides would come on the offensive and he believed that would play into his team's hands.

The Spaniard has been disappointed.

After four home league games of the campaign, only Nottingham Forest have not set out with a noticeably negative approach.

While they were thumped 3-1, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Burnley have all left with the draws Martinez might reckon they came for.

''We were all a little bit relieved at the end of last season because we thought going into the Championship things might be a little bit more open,'' said the Swansea boss.

''We thought teams would come here and try to play face to face and open the games up.

''But even this early on the season, you can see already that teams are coming here with their homework well done. They try to match us up and stop us.

''I am surprised. Maybe I expected this sort of thing to happen around December, when teams are scrapping for every point and getting desperate for results.

''But at the start of the season when you are going to a newly-promoted side, I thought teams would fancy themselves to grab the game by the scruff of the neck, dictate things and take all three points.

''But Sheffield Wednesday came here and matched us up, then Derby changed everything to match us up and had no attempts on target in the first half.

''And Burnley tried to run the clock down from the first minute and hit us on the counter, which to their credit they knew how to do.''

Martinez reckoned ''football had won in the end'' after Ferrie Bodde popped up in the third minute of stoppage time to save Swansea from their first home defeat of the season.

He did not lay into the Burnley approach, which was to stop Swansea first and then see what they could muster at the other end second.

But he added: ''You can win games by making sure you don't concede and then trying to score on the counter attack, or you can get the ball down and be brave.''

Here was a swipe at Burnley's outlook, but then Martinez may have to get used to it.

His team must do better in the face of negative opposition than they did this weekend, because it looked for all the world as though Owen Coyle's mid-table team would register a third successive win until Bodde's dramatic intervention.

Martinez had brought fresh legs to his attack, changing all three of his front players, and also given Fede Bessone a full debut at left-back.

''On a huge pitch like ours, three games in a week is a huge demand,'' he explained.

We will find out tomorrow if the likes of Jason Scotland and Tom Butler were being rested with Cardiff in mind.

Whatever, Swansea's new-look attack struggled to make an impact in a dreary first half where Martin Paterson fired the only significant opportunity straight at Dorus de Vries.

Scotland, the match programme revealed, has a tendency to doze off easily, and he may have been feeling a little sleepy given the slow nature of the contest here until Joey Gudjonsson's header set alarm bells ringing for Swansea.

''We got heavily punished for a challenge on Darren Pratley,'' Martinez said. ''It wasn't a foul, but it was a heavy challenge and Darren needed two or three minutes to get going again.

''It was in that time that Burnley scored their goal, and I don't think it would have happened had Darren been okay.''

Scotland soon arrived from the bench to play his part in the home side's best spell, giving further impetus, perhaps, to the campaign for two genuine strikers.

Fellow substitute Mark Gower forced Brian Jensen into his first save of any note before Scotland's drive had the Burnley keeper scrambling to his right to turn the ball away.

From the corner that followed, Bodde climbed like a line-out jumper at the near post to head against the woodwork and the slightly disappointing home crowd prepared for defeat.

But Swansea, who had been well short of their best, summoned one last effort and conjured their finest move of the match.

Gower excelled first, cutting in from the left around halfway before launching a perfect 40-yard pass over Stephen Jordan.

Angel Rangel, among the most accomplished full-backs in the division when it comes to the opposition's penalty box, took a couple of touches before squaring for Bodde to sweep home from close range.

''The boys showed great personality and great awareness to finish the way they did,'' reckoned Martinez.

''They kept going, they kept playing when it would have been easy to go direct and they understood what they were doing. The reward was a great goal which was as good as you will see at any level.''

Opposite number Owen Coyle was left doing a Fergie at the end, complaining that the game should already have been over by the time Bodde struck.

The four minutes of added time may have had something to do with a farcical booking for Gower, who was carded for not getting the referee's permission when he came on at half-time.

Or they may have been the result of the Burnley tactics which had so upset Martinez. Perhaps justice was done.