A Look Ahead: Corr blimey, its been 23 years!

Tomorrow the Swindon faithful will make the trip west to Devonshire for an unfamiliar tie with The Grecians, Exeter City. It has been 23 years since these two teams met in the league, when Swindon recorded a 3-0 win away from home back in 1986 in what was then the "Canon League Division 4", this being the equivalent of the now Coca Cola League 2. This being a strong testament to Exeter's fall and climb back to where they are now. With back to back promotions under their belt, Paul Tisdale's team will surely be looking for consolidation in League 1 this season. A few of us will remember being there for Exeter's playoff promotion to League 2 two years ago, as part of the 42,511 strong, Conference playoff final record breaking crowd that attended Wembley that day. A few of us also won't remember it too well as they had far too much to drink ;-)

The last time Swindon and Exeter met competitively was in the LDV Vans Trophy - Southern Area - 2nd Round back in 2004 which saw a Swindon reverse win, two goals to one. Amazingly, having not played each other in such a long time, they now meet twice in 7 days.

Through the years, Swindon and Exeter have shared some legends (in the eyes of a Swindon fan) on the pitch. Some noticeable names including Wayne Carlisle, Christian Roberts, and Gary Alexander. In Swindon's Premiership promotion winning squad of 1993, two players featured who previously were on the books at Exeter. Martin Ling was signed for a fee of £25K by manager Lou Macari in 1986. 'Lingy' played only twice before being off-loaded, then resigned by Glenn Hoddle in 1991. And in the same year, Town hero Shaun Taylor was signed from Exeter by Hoddle for £200K after being named Exeter's player of the year. Interestingly, Taylor is now living in Exmouth and is part of the Youth team coach setup at St. James Park and his younger brother Craig also plied is trade at both the County Ground and St. James Park.

Moving to more recent times, a certain Mr. Barry Corr signed for Exeter at the start of the season after being released from the County Ground. Corr was deemed surplus to requirements because of the struggle to keep him fit. However injury prone big Baz is, all Town fans will know of the danger his lofty height of 6ft3in can pose. After getting through his suspension for hitting Leeds' Michael Doyle in his debut for Exeter City, Corr has begun to string together some substitute appearances for the Grecians, and the fans' forums have high expectations of him.

There is good news ahead of tomorrow's game coming from the Exeter camp. New loan-signing Craig Noone is set to start. The 21 year-old who is on-loan from local rivals Plymouth was taken off at the weekend with a suspected injury but has been given the all clear for the Robins clash. He also had a goal wiped off the chalk board in that game in a spurious manner.

Another loan signing in Striker Stuart Fleetwood should also return to the fray on Tuesday evening. He missed out at the weekend against his parent club due to a clause in his loan contract.

Adam Stansfield, who was deployed as a loan striker for most of the game against Charlton, will be looking to hold down his first team place, with Richard Logan and Barry Corr both knocking at the door and given Tisdale plenty of options.

Over at the Swindon camp, I would have thought there is some possibility of a change of attacking personnel following as Swindon were left to rue a whole host of missed chances against Wycombe. Lee Peacock has played a couple of 2nd string fixtures to regain match fitness and with a busy schedule now looks as likely time as ever for Wilson to re-introduce him to the first team, even if it is just a substitute appearance.

Tope Obadeyi, Billy Paynter and Alex Revell will all be hoping they did enough on Saturday to keep at bay the likes of Peacock and Celtic-loanee Ben Hutchinson. Wilson has also had a lot of praise recently for two of his younger lads. Left-back Callum Kennedy will be hoping for a chance ahead of Jean-Francois Lescinel and Lloyd Macklin has been wholly impressive in the few substitute appearances he has made this term. Macklin is a natural striker but can also be deployed in midfield.

Pacey winger Alan O'Brien, who is yet to hit the ground running in a Swindon shirt, is still sidelined with a hamstring injury.

As a Swindon fan, I think we will be turning up at St. James Park expecting 3 points. We have a good run of results behind us - 8 games unbeaten but have failed to win in the last 3. We will be hoping that Exeter will be the breaking of our 1-1 draws, hopefully going our way. We find ourselves in 7th position. Our attacking football has everything there except clinical finishing. If our strikers, whoever Wilson decides to go with, can find their feet in front of goal we can expect to score a few, as the supply and threat is there.

I think the next 7 days could be a turning point in the season. Early as it is, I think if we are going to challenge for playoffs, Exeter's and Brentford's are teams we should definitely be getting 3 points against. No offence intended, this is based on the fact they are both League 1 new boys. Ideally, we should have got 3 points at the weekend also, and the majority of the rest of our results will suffice.

Chairboys' late equaliser instigates 2008 throwback

Danny Wilson built up Saturday's encounter at the County Ground by demanding a win from his players who were currently on a 7 game unbeaten run in League 1 following the opening day atrocity at Gillingham. Likewise, the Swindon faithful were also looking for an improved performance following a host of missed chances a week previous against Walsall, and a first half shambles leading to Wilson stating "It could well have been Gillingham all over again".

Fortunately, my head was too hazed with the fumes of beer for me to be worried about the performance against Walsall, I just had to put up with the Soccer:AM ridicule of Sean Morrison's ballet-like defending and Billy Paynter's unbelievable miss leading to screams of "Just fall on it and it will go in!!" from the Soccer:AM studio. I'm sure I could dig out the videos on youtube but I really don't want to show you. All in good humour though chaps!

So once again I found myself asking the lads in red for some bounce-back-ability as our start to the season, where we find ourselves in 7th position, builds more and more expectation of a result on matchday. And coming up against a Wycombe side who have struggled to make it out of the starting blocks this term, surely 3 points would be ours?

So after having a week off the Saturday buzz was back. The sun was shining, the shorts were on and Captain Greer was back in the heart of defence. Wycombe started bright and came at Swindon on the offensive. Just 2 minutes in the Swindon back 4 were left ball watching as a failure to clear a cross allowed Marlon Pack to thread an easy ball to an on-side Jon-Paul Pittman in acres of space. The Oklahoma-born striker fired aimlessly wide of target when he should have given Wycombe an early lead.

Wilson said that Tope Obadeyi's performance today "was his best in a Swindon shirt" and that "the lad just gets better and better". And it was his cross that led to the breaking of the deadlock on 16 minutes. After some neat interchanging football between Tope, Kevin Amankwaah and Jon-Paul McGovern on the right wing, Obadeyi played in a neat low ball towards frontman Alex Revell. The Southend loanee, who is still yet to score his first goal in a Swindon shirt, had no room to manoeuvre with his back to the goal, but somehow managed to squeeze a neat through-ball into the path of wing-back Kevin Amankwaah. Amankwaah slotted home first time with a calm and collected finish, that of the kind you would expect to see from a striker, to cap a spell of good Swindon pressure and neat football.

4 minutes later and The Robins were again pressurising the Wycombe back-four. Jean-Francois Lescinel played a weak cross from the left side into the area. The cross was only half-cleared back towards Lescinel on the edge of the box, who sent a tantalising header back into the 6-yard box, which somehow managed to avoid the efforts of both Alex Revell and Celtic loanee Simon Ferry, before being cleared behind for a corner. Jon-Paul McGovern's resulting set-piece was headed into the path of Ferry again. Under a lot of pressure, Ferry managed to find skipper Gordon Greer on the right side who executed a sublime cross towards Billy Paynter, whose outstretched leg was just inches to short and the attacking spell ended with a goal-kick.

Again, Swindon took the game to Wycombe as Tope Obadeyi skipped past 3 Wycombe challenges with ease and eventually laid the ball off to Jon-Paul McGovern. McGovern hit a superb 25-yard placed shot, and with the keeper beaten it was only the upright that could deny the ex-MK Don his 3rd goal of the season for Town.

Believe it or not - this is an unbiased blog and a completely objective match report, there just were no Wycombe chances to write about so far! Once again, we found Jon-Paul McGovern at the heart of another Swindon attack. His out-swinging corner met the head of un-marked centre-back Scott Cuthbert who will feel he should have done better. His free header went flying over the cross-bar from around 12 yards out when it really should have nestled in the back of Scott Shearer's goal.

As half-time came, Danny Wilson would have been wondering how his team hadn't already put this game to bed, and personally I couldn't help but wonder; "would the host after host of missed chances come back to haunt us?". It would take another 45 minutes to find out the answer to that one.

Swindon Town continued from where they left off - piling heavy pressure onto the Wycombe backline and still somehow not adding to their lead. Just after the break Jon-Paul McGovern picked up the ball in his own half and played a neat lofted pass for Billy Paynter to run onto. Paynter took the ball on his stride superbly, catapulting himself into the box but his resultant shot flew across goal when he really should have tested keeper Scott Shearer.

Kevin Amankwaah then found himself in possession on the halfway line. His pass then found Tope Obadeyi free on the right-wing. Obadeyi cut inside, easily moving past two defenders to play a cross towards lofty Alex Revell. The 6ft3in striker could do little more than put his header high and wide, frustrating the home fans at not making the goalkeeper work.

Wycombe's chances in the 2nd half, as they had been throughout the game, were few and far between as Swindon stopper David Lucas looked at the top of his game, with a solid performance in between the sticks and really commanding his area. Wycombe seldom looked like scoring at all during the game.

However, as Swindon continued to fail to convert chances to goals, an air of unease shook through the County Ground. And the inability continued, as Tope Obadeyi on the right-wing, cut the ball back for substitute Michael Timlin on 85 minutes. Timlin curled in a superb ball to find Alex Revell. The striker could have been accused of expecting far too much time on the ball as he was quickly closed down, and though managed to get a shot away it was easily blocked by Chairboys defender Luke Oliver.

And then the inevitable happened. Chance after chance that had been wasted by Swindon's attacking force was combined into one sucker punch from Wycombe substitute Ashley Chambers, who is on-loan from Championship new boys Leicester. The Swindon defence were caught napping in the 89th minute as the referee played advantage on the right-wing following a foul from Lescinel on Wycombe teenage winger Matt Phillips. The 18-year old kept his balance as Lescinel went to ground, and whipped in a cross finding Chambers completely unmarked at the far post. 19 year old Chambers had time to bring the ball down and pick his spot and the ball eventually found its way into the Swindon goal after hitting both Keeper David Lucas and Kevin Amankwaah. The lapse in defence, goal and feeling was reminiscent of Swindon's relegation battling last season where we saw shared points relinquished at the death on far too many occasions, eventually leading to us battling to remain in League 1.

Swindon then had a golden opportunity to hit an even later blow in injury time. Timlin whipped a pinpoint cross into the box from the right side, which was met by the head of Billy Paynter. Every Swindon fan was on their feet, but the net never rippled as Scott Shearer made a superb relfex save to deny Swindon all 3 points.

As the final whistle blew, boos rang out from the home stands as what should have been 3 points turned into a mere 1 thanks to a late goal. There were a lot of plus points to take from the game, the match stats show we had 9 shots, and I believe I have included ALL 9 in this report, meaning we are creating some extremely good chances. There is a real need now for that missing ingredient to allow us to finish teams off. That ingredient being clinical finishing and a sprinkle of luck.

We go into our next league game Tuesday 29th September as we make a personally familiar trip west to Exeter to face League 1 new boys the Grecians, in the first of 3 games in 7 days, with a handsome trip to Laaaandon on Saturday to face another new face to League 1, Brentford. Then on the following Tuesday we make our way back to Exeter for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy 2nd Round tie.

I think we are destined to see changes made during this period, and it may be the introduction of fresh faces given a chance to proof themselves that Swindon need. We have the likes of Lee Peacock returning from injury who may be given a look in, Ben Hutchinson on loan from Celtic who will be looking for more first team action. And there are a few youngsters who have featured through substitute appearances who could be in with a shout - Callum Kennedy fighting for Lescinel's left back berth, who I believe has looked somewhat out of sorts recently, and Lloyd Macklin who has made a good account of himself when being brought into the fray a few times late on. And if its goals we're looking for how about Charlie Austin who is rumoured to sign sometime today? Now there's some food for thought ;-)

There will be goals at Walsall, you can BANKS on it!

Unfortunately, I won't be making the short trip the the Midlands this Saturday for our Coca Cola League 1 clash with Walsall at the Banks Stadium. Instead, I'll be taking part in some schitzengiggle fun for Willy Boy's 21st Birthday, dressed in Lederhosen of all things. But I will have one ear close to STFC Player and cheering the boys on from afar.

And seeing as I know you are all going to miss my weekly update so much, I thought I'd have a ramble today and write a small prelude before Saturday comes.

History says that this one could go either way. In all competitions since 30th November 1896, Swindon and Walsall have come up against each other 84 times, with both sides recording 31 wins each, the rest being draws. But I didn't write to bore you with statistics, so here is the kiss of death; my gut is telling me that come 5 o'clock Saturday it will be League 1's "Dark Horses" who come back with all 3 points.
And dark horses was the adjective used to describe the Robins by Saddlers boss Chris Hutchings ahead of our clash on Saturday. When everybody else doubted Town to another close-season of relegation battles, Hutchings always believed Swindon had the potential to be up there with the top contenders, even after our opening day hammering at Gillingham. And his pre-season beliefs have so far come into fruition, with that shock 5-0 defeat being our only loss of the league campaign so far. And the good form shows in the league table as we sit in a healthy 6th position.

I like to keep a close eye over the good, bad and ugly of the Swindon Town fan forums and there is real belief and confidence in the camp after our convincing start to the season. This is something I don't remember seeing since our promotion in 2006/2007 to League 1, and long may it last! The atmosphere amongst the Robins faithful took a turn for the worst July just gone as the inevitable happened, and we failed to keep hold of goal-machine Simon Cox. Many say the man single-handedly kept Swindon up last season with his goal scoring antics, which eventually led to him being the joint top goal scorer in all English domestic leagues. A mean feat considering he was scoring goals for fun whilst playing for a side toying with relegation. I don't fully agree with this statement, however it is clear to see that without Cox's contribution, I probably would have gone through a few more pairs of pants than I already did in May. On the contrary, if games were played over 85 minutes rather than 90, Swindon would have finished in the playoffs! I digress - hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it leads to more boring statistics!Oh and somebody else had something to say about Simon Cox. You guessed it, the rather talkative Walsall head-honcho Chris Hutchings! I thought women were bad...

“Cox is a good player - no bones about it,” he admitted.

“And Danny was probably sorry to lose him, but everyone has their price and they are using to money to build something else there. It is always ongoing.

“They have done well. They are sixth or seventh in the table with some good results, and it shows you can shoot up the table, which they have done.”

I forgot to mention that Danny and Chris are ex-Brighton team-mates and extremely good friends - hence the brown-nosing. I think they may have breathed too much of that Brighton sea air if you know what I mean.

I've followed Swindon Town Football Club my whole life, I think Gig gets the thanks for that one. But for me there is a difference between following a team and supporting a team, and I've been a supporter of Swindon Town Football Club for around 4 years now. The difference between the two being a feeling of love for the club - sorrow and bitterness when you are dumped out of the cup, overwhelming joy when you get promoted, standing for 90 minutes in an uncovered stand, in the middle of a snowstorm at Brighton's shithole of a ground, getting beat, and still scraping together enough money during the week so that you can go again Saturday. Its feelings you have no control over and people don't understand this mindset until you actually become, are or have been a "supporter".

There is a reason for me bringing this up, as I experienced the feeling of overwhelming joy i described above at a home game against Walsall around 4 years ago. On the final day of the season, Walsall came to town for a top of the table clash, with Walsall needing 3 points to be crowned League 2 champions, and Swindon needing a point to secure promotion in 3rd place. Walsall were a point above 2nd place Hartlepool, who were entertaining Swindon's bitter rivals Bristol Rovers. If Hartlepool won and Walsall failed to win, Walsall wouldn't finish in top spot. Early in the 2nd half, "Beast" Jerel Ifil put Swindon in the lead with a fine header, and Swindon looked set to take all 3 points. And with the score between Hartlepool and Bristol Rovers being level, if things stayed as they were Walsall would relinquish their top spot and have to make-do with 2nd. Until Dean Keates pulled out the bag an injury time screamer, to secure an all important point for Walsall. As the final whistle blew, myself and fellow Town faithful went into rapture as we knew our promotion was guaranteed. And even though the Saddlers knew a point was enough to secure them promotion, it wasn't until the Swindon Tannoy announced Hartlepool's draw with Bristol Rovers, that the Walsall fans started celebrations of their own. This was that feeling of overwhelming joy, nigh on 16,000 supporters packed the County Ground that day, and every single one of them had an ear to ear smile as they left - this feeling you won't experience unless you're a "supporter".Anyway, I've more than rambled today so I'll bring things to a close. I go into Saturday with two hopes. Swindon get 3 points, and my Lederhosen doesn't get ripped!

Enjoy!

Come on U reds! A share of the spoils see Town tot up a 6 game unbeaten run

Followers of the best in the west - Swindon Town could have been forgiven for feelings of vertigo with the position we find ourselves in prior to our clash with Colchester - a game that had been dubbed "the biggest of the season so far" by messiah Danny Wilson.

And after being written off at the start of the season by television, newspaper and magazine pundits alike, match reports this morning would suggest the "experts" have changed their tune - calling ourselves and the U's fellow promotion contenders as a point each at the County Ground sees Swindon and Colchester occupy 5th and 6th place respectively.

The visit of Colchester would see the coming of Aidy Boothroyd to the County Ground for his first game in charge of the U's. Looking on forums and websites there seems to be quite a buzz amongst fans with the appointment of such a manager, who of course was linked with our very own hot seat upon the removal of Maurice Malpas.

The sun shone over the providence of Swindonia on Saturday morning as we took up our usual pre-match positions at the bar, this time in The Merlin for a bit of footballing banter. Manager Wilson had built up this contest in the media, naming it as "the biggest game of the season so far" and stating "This will be a real yardstick for me of how we will compete over the rest of the season". Consequently, you can imagine the supporters were up for today. As we found our familiar seats and awaited 3:00pm to be shown on the famous Rolex timekeeper, the pre-match festivities were carried out as today was the first of three "Military Days" to help raise money for the Help for Heroes charity, and military personnel could attend the game at the cost of only £10.00 to show our support to the boys. As part of the day, the match ball was delivered to the pitch in a tank!
Wilson had rung the changes for today; as favourites Billy Paynter and Anthony McNamee were dropped to the bench to allow the attempt at a new formation - 4-3-3, seeing the lads spearheaded by the attacking force of Ben Hutchinson, Temitope Obadeyi and Alex Revell who made his debut in the famous red jersey. Though the official formation was 4-3-3, it became clear soon after the whistle that this wasn't quite the case as Temitope Obadeyi and Ben Hutchinson sat wide to give more of a feel of 4-5-1, with Alex Revell acting as a lone-striker for most of the game.

The other shock of the day was to see 2nd 'keeper Phil Smith between the sticks, as it was reported number 1 David Lucas would sit out today after sustaining a knee injury in the pre-match warm-up. This also meant that young Polish stopper Jakub Jesionkowski would come the closest he's been to a first string game with a place in the 7 on the bench.

The travelling support was poor, keeping the official attendance down to 6,621, but it was the Essex boys who had more to shout about early on. 17 mins into the game a dangerous looking cross tempted Phil Smith off his line. As Smith floundered at the ball it fell to the feet of 24 year old Ashley Vincent who unleasheed a goal-bound shot. However, Smith recovered well and the former Crawley Town man made a nice diving parry to deflect the ball clear and keep the scores level.

5 minutes later however Smith couldn't deny the same man Ashley Vincent. A long ball forward from Colchester stopper Ben Williams wasn't met by a red-shirt before the bounce. Swindon's complete lack of defending allowed both Kevin Lisbie and Clive Platt to get a flick on to release Vincent in Smith's area. Scott Cuthbert tried in vain to block Vincent's crashing drive but a deflection saw the ball fly past the helpless Phil Smith. Unfortunately for Vincent, his goal would be the last touch of the game for him as the medics stretechered him off thanks to a late challenge from Kevin Amankwaah in the process of the ball hitting the back of the net. Watching back the replays it would appear that if Vincent hadn't found the net it surely would have been a penalty, though Amankwaah luckily got away without punishment.

Swindon fought back quickly with 10 minutes of solid pressure. Ben Hutchinson saw a shot fly over the bar after cleverly turning his marker. Town fans were also treated to more of Danny Wilson's calm passing game that he's been trying to introduce at the County Ground to rid of the scruffy long-ball we have seen for many a year. Kevin Amankwaah picked up the ball in his own area and played a lovely pass to Celtic-loanee Ben Hutchinson. Hutchinson carried the ball towards the halfway line before spotting the run of Amankwaah, releasing him on the right-wing. Amankwaah played in a dangerous low ball into Williams' area, as debutant Alex Revell scuffed his attempt it fell to on-form Jon-Paul McGovern who sees his thunderous drive saved well by Ben Williams and deflected clear.

And finally, the masses of pressure being applied by the home side paid dividends on the strike of half-time. Tt took all of 45 minutes to see Swindon score but it was well worth the wait. A Colchester corner was easily dealt with by the Town defence and what ensued was a perfect example of counter-attacking football. Ben Hutchinson picked up the ball and strode foward at least 60 yards unchallenged as the Colchester back-line scurried to reform their shape. With Tope Obadeyi ahead of him he played a perfectly timed ball to an onside Obadeyi. Tope had all the time in the world, and used it as he waited for 'keeper Ben Williams to make his move before firing home to cap a lovely passage of play from Ben Hutchinson. And with the scores level, shortly after, the referee's whistle signaled half-time. Bow-time hard earned.
The 2nd half started as a cagey affair, as neither team wanted to be caught up-field in the same fashion as the equalising goal. It took around 10 minutes for the first real chance to eventuate. Alex Revell, who had been playing against Swindon two weeks earlier, had already shown us his ability to win headers and make a real nuisance of himself to opposing defenders. Next he put on display his shooting ability as he picked up the ball around 40 yards from goal following some neat Swindon passing. He spotted his opportunity, of which nobody else in ground had seen, and out of nowhere hits an almighty strike, surprising and beating William's, only to be kept out by the bar.

Colchester's chances were few and far between, the most notable coming as well-travelled Kevin Lisbie was released. However, the 30 year old's lack of pace was beaten by Phil Smith who rushed towards the oncoming striker to clutch the ball at his feet.

Intricate winger Anthony McNamee was soon brought into the fray by manager Danny Wilson to replace Ben Hutchinson. And he made an immediate effect on the game, evidently battling for a starting berth next week at Walsall. He knocked a lovely through ball to centre-half Simon Ferry who beat the offside trap. As the Colchester back line scrambled to recover, he takes on 2 defenders before hitting a left-footed curling effort which flew just wide of the post.

A half-chance came from a Jon-Paul McGovern corner. McGovern, who has stepped up his game this season to ensure a constant place in the starting 11 so far, whipped in the corner towards striker substitute Billy Paynter who met the cross around 12 yards out with a volley. Paynter struggled to get any power behind the ball and failed to really test Williams.

As time ticked on it became clear that both sides were content with a draw, as Colchester were extremely unwilling to gamble their 1 point in an attempt to steal all 3. Swindon however gave it one more go on 78 minutes. McNamee and Amankwaah linked up well on the right-wing, allowing Amankwaah to put a low ball across the Colchester goal. Billy Paynter met it at the near post with his head but defender John White happened to find himself in the way of Paynter's goal-bound header and unknowingly deflected it wide for a corner, which Swindon failed to force the issue with.

The final-whistle drew to a close an unthrilling encounter, but a hard-earned point means Swindon are now unbeaten in 6 league games following the opening day thrashing from Gillingham. There is a real buzz amongst the County Ground underbelly and fans know that if Wilson can keep hold of the loan signings who now appear to be making an impact on the team, and keep the regulars performing at this level, we will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. Keep up the good work Danny! Oh and the military day helped raise £1,600 for the Help for Heroes charity.

Ye'own goal proves enough for a travelling 3 points

Having had a weekend free of football thanks to a well worthy trip to Reading Festival over the bank holiday, understandably I was roused for the next Saturday to come. And with it; a "so-called" short trip West to Yeovil.

I'm not sure what it is about the prospect of a trip to Yeovil, but for the same fixture last season, I had to make the journey on crutches after some unfortunate footing saw me tear the ligaments in my right-ankle, off-the-ball, playing for Cunning Stunts in 6-a-side football (WE ARE TOP THE LEAGUE, SAY WE ARE TOP THE LEAGUE). Ironically, my opposite ankle was the size of a tennis ball after a 1-1 draw Thursday evening, following an obviously goal-bound block to secure our unbeaten start to the season (see link above). Fortunately, by the time Saturday came, the swelling and pain had reduced and my Yeovil visit wasn't to be impaired this season.

With that same feeling of fortune in my gut, it was around 9:30am that I watched Soccer:AM to learn of our opponents for the 2nd round of the illustrious Johnstone's Paint Trophy, or Football League Trophy as its called sponsor-free. I was a little disappointed with the fact that we have a 2nd mid-week journey to make to St. James Park, Exeter, in a matter of 2 weeks. However, you can't fault the tie itself. On paper its an ideal draw to play a team that's just been promoted to League 1, having struggled to only record 1 victory out of 6 league games and currently reside on the edge of the drop-zone. But as we've seen many a time in cup competitions - the tie is played out their on the park and not on paper.

At the slightly earlier time, we set off at 11:30am to make the nether 2 hour journey to Somerset. It was somewhat a breath of fresh air as myself and Gigat were joined by 2 footballing civilians in the form of manic female shoppers. In comparison to my quest to visit as many of England and Wales' footballing grounds as possible, it would seem that they've taken on the inaugural task of shopping in as many of England and Wales' towns and cities as possible. The presence of Mum and Laura kept the talk of football to a minimum which was a peculiar feeling, but they were more than welcome to join us.

It was again fortunate that we left earlier than usual (thanks to "the buzz", I couldn't wait any longer). The journey on the A303, which should have taken us around an hour and a half, actually took double that time. As traffic mounted and we came to a halt, my decision to find an alternative route was helped thanks to the weird talking Spire FM bloke who informed us that failing traffic lights had caused lengthy tailbacks on the A303. Armed with this information and aided with the knowledge that being in a traffic jam with 2 ladies itching to hit Marks and Spencers and the possibility of toilet breaks being needed, TomTom found me an alternative route that would add 40 minutes to the journey. Whether this was beneficiary or not one will possibly never know, but I think we all agreed that having the car in motion rather than being sat stationary was a much better idea. My own stress levels were heightened as a combination of traffic-lights and terrible drivers made the remainder of the journey quite unpleasant. (If everyone on the road was as good a driver as me, I'm sure the amount of accidents and journey times would be slashed!).

We finally dropped the girls at a bus stop, somewhere in Yeovil, left to their own devices of stopping random people for directions and using their female instincts to find the shops. The journey had taken 3 hours!! Stress-relief in the form of a can of strongbow was necked back as we made the final short leg to the stadium car park. This time I had to park with the other minions as a lack of crutches meant I couldn't use disabled parking this time round.

You may be thinking I'm putting more detail into the build-up to 3 o'clock than usual. This is intentional thanks to a rather boring 90 minutes where chances were few and far between, and the match-report aspect will only fill a minority of the blog. Ladies and Gentleman, hold your hats because here goes:

Wilson had kept faith with the starting eleven that I had yet to see who held on against a 10-man Southend a week previous to secure a 2-1 victory at the County Ground. This included the recent loan acquisitions following Wilson's raid on the Celtic locker room - Striker Ben Hutchinson and midfielder Simon Ferry. Deadline day loan signing Alex Revell, who arrived from cash-strapped Southend, having played against the Robins just two days previous, and donning the number 31 of the recently departed prolific Simon Cox, had to make do with a seat on the bench today against the Glovers.

Swindon fans were in good voice compared to the reserved home fans in our Stratton Bank-esq home for 90 minutes, time and time again this seems to be the case for home fans. And a modest 4,807 faithful supporters were awaiting referee Monty Panesar's whistle.

Yeovil started off the brighter looking of the two sides, as you'd expect from a side playing on home turf, though centre back Scott Cuthbert, who has been able to hold down a starting berth ahead of teenage prodigy Sean Morrison, was rewarding Wilson for his decision by looking solid and making some important sliding tackles and interceptions.

On the left-side, wing back Lescinel Jean-Francois was being repeatedly tormented by Andy Welsh, though his crosses were being thwarted thanks to the constant aerial prowess of captain Gordon Greer and Kevin Amankwaah; who was playing against his old side for the first time.

Around the half hour mark, Yeovil had a half-chance go begging as Ryan Mason, who is on-loan from Tottenham, fired a 20 yard free-kick into the head of Lucas' defensive wall which then deflected wide, and Yeovil were unable to force anything from the resulting corner.

It took all of 41 minutes for either side to force the issue, which eventually came in the form of a Terrell Forbes own goal. Billy Paynter met a diagonal ball from on-form Jon-Paul McGovern, directing the ball back into the 6 yard box. Forbes was forced to deal with the tenacious flick, but unluckily directed it past his own keeper, with a goal to his name any striker would be proud of.

The whistle for half time brought a rather unimpressive 45 minutes to a close. Both sets of supporters would have been expecting to see more from their lads, as Swindon's reluctance to keep hold of the ball was outclassed by Yeovil's own inability to keep hold of the ball and make anything of it on the rare occasions they could force an attack, certainly not a home performance to be proud of.

Shortly after the break, confusion broke out as Yeovil fans behind the dugout erupted at what appeared to be a "square up" between the two "guvnors", Wilson and Terry Skiverton. The fourth official brought it to the attention of Panesar look-alike J. Singh, who subsequently sent a bewildered looking Danny Wilson to the stands. The actual events of what happened between the two managers appears to have been overlooked by all media sources I've looked at, and all post-match interviews appear to have avoided the matter, however the fruckus happened during the stoppage of play as Lescinel Jean-Francois appeared to be in pain as he took his own boot and sock off, and I imagine words were exchanged between the managers as Skiverton wanted play to continue when Lescinel was obviously worried by a knock.
With the game remaining to be a quiet affair as Yeovil pushed forward and Swindon resorted to an unattractive long ball approach, Robins faithful found little else to compliment apart from the efforts of once again lone-striker Billy Paynter. The scouse chased everything and put defenders and goalkeeper under pressure at every opportunity and his efforts were appreciated with chants of "There's only one, Billy Paynter", who showed his appreciation with a cheek-to-cheek grin and a thumbs up for the travelling supporters.
He nearly sealed the victory by doubling the scoreline in the 90th minute, his shot one-on-one with keeper Alex McCarthy was denied with a good stop. Paynter had been put through on goal after a sublime ball over the top of the Yeovil back-line from 18 year old Lloyd Macklin. 5 minutes earlier he had a chance himself after just coming on and stretching his legs to use his amazing pace and outrunning the defence, his almost certain chance was put just wide under the pressure of numerous Yeovil shirts. The 18 year old has certainly looked impressive in his few substitute appearances hes made under Wilson this season and could well have a bright future ahead of him.

As 90 minutes plus 4 was brought to a close, Town fans remained in their stand to applaud the efforts of the players, and the boys in red responded with an applaud of their own for us that travelled down. Billy Paynter chants rang out once again as the 25 year old looked visibly worn from his efforts out there today, a true servant to the Swindon Town machine which is now beginning to look well-oiled.

The 3 points today meant Swindon continue their league run of 5 games unbeaten following their freak 5-0 defeat at Gillingham first game of the season. They've totalled up 11 points from 6 games, enough for them to currently occupy the last playoff position, 6th in League 1.