Football League One
County Ground, Swindon
Admission: £16.00
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 8592
Match Rating: 3
With the arctic conditions plaguing England during December, meaning that I have only been able to take in one game in the last three weeks - and that was in Spain - and also scuppering my hopes of paying a visit to either Chippenham or Cirencester in the Zamaretto League yesterday as I had planned during my overnight stay in northern Wiltshire, it came as a huge relief when this game passed a pitch inspection the day before thanks to a commendable snow clearing effort by volunteer fans.
The County Ground is located about a ten minute walk from the centre of Swindon, adjacent to the (in)famous Magic Roundabout - five mini roundabouts shaped in a hexagon. Although it certainly wasn't necessary, I went to buy my ticket from one of the ticket windows at the stadium in the morning, together with a programme, which made for interesting reading over lunch - a very good effort, attractive on the eye with hardened cover pages and plenty of interesting articles for neutrals and committed Swindon fans to digest. On returning to the stadium ahead of kick off, I took my seat in the Town End which is basically seats bolted on to what used to be terracing. With plenty of obstructing pillars and a low roof, views are not particularly good but this stand does have the advantages of a very reasonable ticket price (for League One football) and excellent acoustics to help augment the atmosphere generated by the most passionate of Swindon supporters. Which unfortunately was only sporadic at best today. Behind the other goal is uncovered seating which was not in use today. This stand does however boast containing the only Rolex clock at a football ground in England, positioned next to an electronic scoreboard. Along either length of the pitch are two imposing single tier grandstands.
Today's game was a welcome return to action for the two teams, Swindon not having played since an embarassing FA Cup 2nd Round Replay home defeat to non-league Crawley Town back on December 7th. The weather hasn't been much kinder to Peterborough, who have not played since December 10th. After being beaten in the League One play-off final last season, Swindon have found things rather trickier this season, currently down in 17th place and just points away from the relegation places. This season has been something of a rollercoaster ride for Peterborough, who find themselves just a point off the play-off places and can boast the unusual distinction of having scored the most goals in the division but also conceding the most too. The previous meeting between these two clubs was the perfect snapshot of Peterborough's season, when they won 5-4 at London Road.
On a murky but pleasingly mild afternoon, with the kick off delayed by twenty minutes due to traffic problems on the motorways, the visitors looked the classier side in the early exchanges and spent most of the opening quarter of an hour attacking Swindon's goal, and deservedly took the lead on 17 minutes through Lee Tomlin with a well placed low shot from 10 yards out. As the half wore on, Swindon came more into the game and had some glorious chances to get back on level terms, but Peterborough went into half time with a slender lead, a reasonable reflection of the first half's play which wasn't the most entertaining it has to be said. Swindon though went on to dominate possession in the second half but rarely looked convincing in the final third, until the 71st minute when they were gifted a penalty thanks to a ridiculously ill judged lunge on the edge of the area with no immediate threat of Swindon scoring. Top scorer Charlie Austin duly converted the penalty to put the game back on level terms. The game became ever more entertaining the more it went on and became end to end in the final five minutes as both sides looked for a winner. In the end, Swindon will wonder how on earth they didn't find it, with a succession of corners and with the very last kick of the game when Austin shot on the turn hit the post and bounced clear.
No comments:
Post a Comment