Swindon Town 1 v 1 Peterborough United

Tuesday 28th December 2010
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.
 

Charlton Athletic 2 v 1 Swindon Town

Monday 18th May 2010
League 1 Play-off Semi-Final Second Leg
Score 2-1 (3-3 on aggregate after extra time, 4-5 on penalties)
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: £17.00
Programme: £3.00

Attendance: 21,521

Match Rating: 4

For a Charlton fan, this was the biggest game for many a season, a rare highlight after several disappointing seasons that has seen Charlton plummet from being an established Premiership club to the third tier of English football in just four seasons. The first leg of this play-off semi final set the tie up deliciously, with Swindon recording a 2-1 victory at the County Ground, although in truth they should have headed to London for the second leg with a more comfortable cushion, squandering some wonderful chances. The two teams have been evenly matched all season, with only two points separating the teams in the final league standings, and both regular league games ended in draws.

For this game, I was seated in the Upper North Stand, directly behind the goal, which offered an excellent view of the action, with plenty of legroom and the rows are sufficiently inclined. Indeed, The Valley is a fine place to watch football, with large concourses en route to the stands, with only the Lower North Stand feeling rather cramped and with a low incline between seats and the South Stand, given to away fans, which is somewhat cramped. As usual, the programme at Charlton is an above average publication, with plenty of readable articles of interest to home, away and neutral fans.

The game itself had a most unfortunate opening, when the Swindon goalkeeper, David Lucas, collided with his own player and fell awkwardly in the first minute of the game, and after around five minutes of treatment, had to be helped from the field with a shoulder injury. The more the first half went on, the more Charlton dominated the game both in terms of possession and chances, and it was no surprise when they took the lead on the night to level the scores overall on 27 minutes, when Simon Ferry stabbed the ball into his own net, and on the stroke of half time, Charlton took the lead in the tie for the first time when Dave Mooney fired in from 16 yards with a good finish.

At half time, with Charlton flooding forward at will and Swindon looking increasingly desperate in defence, Charlton looked a good bet to make it to the Wembley final, all the more so when Swindon were reduced to ten men on 67 minutes when Gordon Greer was rightly sent off for an awful high lunge on Deon Burton. However, five minutes later, Swindon brought the scores level on aggregate thanks to some shocking defending allowing Danny Ward to poke the ball past Darren Randolph in the Charlton goal. From this point on, play switched from end to end, and either side could have won it, and deep in to injury time at the end of normal time, Charlie Austin spun past Miguel Angel Llera for a potential one-on-one with the goalkeeper, until Llera rugby tackled Austin to the ground. A well deserved red card for Llera, but this probably saved the game for Charlton and ensured extra time would be called for.

Extra time started much the same as normal time ended, although chances dried up the longer it went on, probably with the fear of losing the game overtaking the desire to win it. That said, Charlton had two glorious chances to win the game in the second period of injury time, but it was not to be and the match headed for a penalty shoot out. Nicky Bailey was the unfortunate player to be the only person to miss from the ten penalty kicks, which meant that Swindon booked a day out to Wembley. There are pros and cons of the play-off system as I have discussed previously, but overall there are probably more pros than cons. A penalty shoot-out to decide promotion has always seemed wholly unsatisfactory to me, either a replay, awarding promotion to the higher placed team in the league or the winner of the aggregate score in the games between the two teams during the season would be possible fairer options.