Full time Saturday February 17th (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Full time Saturday February 17th

8:01pm Saturday 17th February 2007 in Football By Dave Wallis

Match report from Swindon Town

League Two

Fulltime Swindon Town 1 Darlington 1

On a grey damp day, Swindon Town faced Darlington in the fight for League Two points. Skipper Ady Williams was ruled out through injury, producing a recall for Jamie Vincent.

In a bright start to the match, three minutes in, Aaron Brown's overhead kick on the left hand edge of the six-yard box fell to Ricky Shakes but he headed straight at the keeper Lee Jones.

But a minute later the visitors threatened when Ian Miller connected with a free kick with a weak shot which seemed to confuse Smith, but the keeper reacted late to fall on the ball.

Then nine minutes in, a long free kick from the halfway line from Jamie Vincent wasn't dealt with by the Darlo defence and Andy Nicholas drew a line under a difficult week, running in to head home after the ball had been allowed to bounce in the box.

Then after 12 minutes, Christian Roberts almost doubled the lead when he turned on a loose ball to fire a stunning shot over keeper Jones' head. As the ball crashed against the bar and bounced clear he was quickest to respond but his headed attempted passed narrowly wide of the left hand post

Town were making all of the running and when a cross from Jack Smith found Peacock's head in the six yard box, he headed over.

After 17 minutes, Brown hit a shot from wide on the left, past the far post. Swindon were dominating the opening stages with sharp tackling and smart off the ball movement.

The officials had already started to upset the home supporters and they were incensed on the half hour when Peacock appeared to be pulled to the ground by Dave Wheater at the end of a 40-yard run. Referee Taylor declared no foul.

Brown then carried the ball from deep inside Town's half into the opposition's 18-yard box but his shot failed to match his industry.

Then another excellent run from Brown down the left produced a low cross that Roberts couldn't turn inside the left hand post. Shakes then found Peacock and his ball to the onrushing Roberts was cleared for a throw.

From the throw a nice interchange between Roberts and Jack Smith saw the defender's shot blocked and Timlin fired the loose ball wide of the right hand post.

Action at the other end saw a cannon shot from Alun Armstrong strike the centre of Town's defence and run from danger, but with a minute of the half remaining, Armstrong again was the danger man as his floated headed was misjudged at the back and dropped just wide of Smith's left hand post

Halftime Swindon Town 1 Darlington Rovers 0

The start of the second period failed to live up the opening of the first, with the next move of consequence taking almost 15 minutes to arrive when a good combination between Roberts and Nicholas resulted in a cross to the box that produced a corner.

By then the visitors had already shown their readiness to carry the fight to the home side with a sustained passing movement that had Town's defence chasing shadows.

Michael Pook had a good opportunity after great movement and a cross from Shakes down the right saw Peacock tee his midfielder up, but Pook but drove his shot well wide of the right hand post from 12 yards.

Roberts then produced a brilliant cross to Peacock but the excellent point blank save from goalkeeper Jones was more than equal to Peacock's header.

Then a glancing header from Timlin drifted just wide but within a minute Darlo were level.

Martin Smith was left completely unmarked as the ball was allowed to drift all the way through Town's penalty box, and his drive from 15 yards beat Town keeper Phil Smith. Sixty seconds later and a desperate defensive mix up almost gifted the visitors the lead when Wright was unable to turn the ball home.

With a quarter of an hour remaining, manager Sturrock produced his usual substitution shuffle, bringing on son Blair and youth team star Lukas Jutkiewicz for Roberts and Pook, and dropping Peacock back to midfield, but it was the defence that had started to look far too pedestrian.

A Martin Smith cross caused havoc when a Dave Wheater overhead kick gave the chance for substitute Tommy Wright's header to strike the bar and bounced down for Smith to grab. All earlier control had gone out of Swindon's game.

Sofienne Zaaboub was introduce for Aaron Brown with twelve minute remaining, and after a string of petty and sometimes baffling decisions, the referee produced another when the strength of a perfectly executed block tackle from Nicholas left his opponent on the floor and earned the Town defender a yellow card.

Pushed back into their own half far more than during the first half, Town continued to try to break quickly and on 88 minutes, a run from Jutkiewizc saw the young striker unable to reach a ball before keeper Jones, but the game was running away from Town.

Finally, Shakes rippled the side netting in the last minute of four added, but these were two points dropped against a team who had occupied an inferior League position and dropped Swindon out of the automatic promotion places.

Attendance: 5,570