HALF TIME: Swindon Town 3 Select XI 0 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

SWINDON TOWN: HALF TIME: Swindon Town 3 Select XI 0

5:55pm Thursday 5th July 2012 in Sport By Sam Morshead

SWINDON Town lead a local select XI 3-0 at half-time in their friendly clash at Hotel Veronello on the banks of Lake Garda this evening.

Two strikes from James Collins and one from Andy Williams have given the Robins the massive upper hand at the break in Town’s first outing of their pre-season tour of Italy.

Paolo Di Canio will make 10 changes for the second half, with only goalkeeper Wes Foderingham remaining on the pitch.

Here are the key moments from today’s first half:

Six mins: GOAL 1-0 (Collins) It’s a decent start from Town and the tourists takes the lead when Matt Ritchie swings in a cross from the right and James Collins rises well to head the ball past Nicola Mantovanelli in the Select XI goal.

Eight mins: GOAL 2-0 (Collins) Precisely two minutes after going in front, Town double their lead. Ritchie provides a pin-point crossfield ball, which is collected by Gary Roberts and the former Huddersfield man picks out Collins at the back post to tap home from close range.

It could all become a little too easy for Swindon at this rate.

14 mins: Town enjoy a bit of a let-off as Lorenzo Zerbato gets down the outside on the left and his cut-back falls to the feet of Mirko Cuchito, whose mis-hit effort beats Foderingham but comes back off the Robins keeper’s left-hand post.

32 mins: GOAL 3-0 (Williams) After a sticky period, during which Town have plenty of possession without making any serious impact, a lucky break gives the Robins a third.

Ritchie sticks a boot in to dispossess Federico Accordini on the edge of the area and the loose ball falls to the feet of Andy Williams, who buried the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the Select XI net.

36 mins: Williams dispossesses Filippo Piasentin on the edge of the box, but his curling shot is punched away by Mantovanelli.

37 mins: Roberts steams down the left, and plays in Williams who in turn tees up Collins for a free pop at goal.

Collins aims for the bottom right-hand corner but Mantovanelli gets down to beat the ball to safety.

44 mins: Alan Navarro’s free kick breaks to Ritchie on the edge of the area and his low drive is snaffled by Mantovanelli as Swindon push for a fourth before the interval.

FIRST-HALF TEAM: Wes Foderingham; Nathan Thompson, Aden Flint, Alan McCormack, Jay McEveley; Matt Ritchie, Tommy Miller, Alan Navarro, Gary Roberts; James Collins, Andy Williams

Subs: Leigh Bedwell, Chris Smith

SECOND-HALF TEAM: Wes Foderingham; Simone Materazzi, Joe Devera, Troy Archibald-Henville, Alessandro Cibocchi; Raffa De Vita, Simon Ferry, Oliver Risser, Luke Rooney; Miles Storey, Paul Benson