Elsewhere fellow promotion favourites Leeds United failed to gain as much ground on Norwich as they would have hoped as host Hartlepool scored a dramatic 93rd minute goal to share a point with Leeds, I would have loved to see Jeff Stelling's reaction! Huddersfield failed to overcome visitors Carlisle as they drew 1-1, and Charlton and ourselves will have to wait for another rare opportunity to push for automatic promotion as a sickening 93rd minute equaliser saw Charlton head back east with a point in their swag bag as they robbed the Robins of all 3.
County Ground officials were expecting over 10,000 for the Saturday afternoon tie between two teams sat in the playoffs, with both knowing there is still a possibility of reaching the elusive 2nd place. However, the official attendance was recorded at under 10,000, no doubt hit by the surprise small number of Charlton fans. What has happened to their away fan base? I was extremely shocked by their numbers and their noise.
Wilson made one change to the side that threw away 3 points at Southend the weekend before as David Lucas took his regular spot in the between the sticks after recovering from a niggle, and Phil Smith would have to make do with a seat on the bench. Fellow recovers Alan O'Brien and Lloyd Macklin had a space reserved for them on the bench as well.
The first half was a cagey affair, with few clear cut chances for either side. Gordon Greer put his header from a Jon-Paul McGovern corner onto the crossbar. Then at the opposite end Nicky Bailey shook Lucas' goal as a thunderous effort from him was also kept out by the woodwork after Kyel Reid managed to find him unmarked on the edge of Town's box.
Danny Ward saw his poke towards goal turned away by the backside of team mate Billy Paynter after Charlie Austin had played in the Bolton loanee. And Austin saw an effort of his own flash wide of the goal as he managed to make something of a ball bouncing behind him, but was unable to connect cleanly.
Simon Ferry nearly put Town ahead with an audacious dipping effort but this went just the wrong side of the post, and looked like it was going in from where I was sat. The spirits of the home support was high as a physical first 45 came to a halt, knowing that we were definitely in with a shout against the Addicks.
As the players were reintroduced to the pitch, the pace of the game continued from where it had left off. Strong tackling and classy passing however allowed Swindon to grab the initiative. Ward played a short corner to McGovern, a move that riles up Town support as usually we see possession squandered from such attempts. However, this time the moved worked as McGovern played a first time ball to Gordon Greer, who had found himself involved heavily in Town's attacking play today. The captain had lost his marker at the near post and flicked the ball across Charlton's box where big wing back Kevin Amankwaah applied the finish for his 3rd goal of the campaign, causing the County Ground to erupt.
With just under half an hour remaining, it seemed Town took the gear down a bit too early and as we have on so many occasions, let Charlton back into the game rather than putting it to bed. Nicky Bailey was guilty of wasting two great chances to get Charlton back into it as Town's attacking prowess from the first 60 minutes disappeared, and our classy passing football turned into an un-confident "'AVE IT!" fest. And as the fourth official raised his board to display 5 minutes of added time, deja vu struck, and the chances of a boxing day repeat were on the cards.
And in the 93rd minute, lightning had struck twice for The Robins, and it would be Nicky Bailey, undoubtedly Charlton's biggest danger throughout the game, who would send the hearts of around 8000 Town faithful sinking.
Charlton broke down the left flank and Deon Burton, who was once on-loan at the County Ground, played a ball into the area and finding un-marked Nicky Bailey. Bailey drilled his shot low and hard, giving David Lucas little chance of scuppering Charlton's celebrations.
Once again, and for the 2nd time in a week, and for the 2nd time against Charlton this season, we conceded a late, late injury time equaliser. The draw felt like a loss to me, as it had on Boxing day at the Valley, and rather than having a cushion going in to our game Tuesday night against Oldham, the home faithful will be thinking that 3 points are a must if we want to keep up our push for playoffs or automatic promotion come the end of the season.
But there is a lot that we, and Danny Wilson can take from the performance that we put in. And the results around us have proven that any one can truly beat anyone in this league. And this, coupled with our thumping thrashing of Leeds 7 days ago, and numerous other results this season prove that we deserve to be competing come the end of the season, its now a question of whether we can weather the storm and keep on pushing.
Anyway, I'm off the Stamford Bridge now for the Super Sunday clash between Chelsea and Arsenal! Sat in the away section so expecting a brilliant atmosphere and great day out, should be a cracker!
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