Full time at the County Ground, Swindon Saturday March 31st (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Full time at the County Ground, Swindon Saturday March 31st

6:19pm Saturday 31st March 2007 in Football By Dave Wallis

The teams at both extremes of the play-off zone met each other at the County Ground this weekend when seventh placed Shrewsbury travelled to fourth placed Swindon with each hoping to further their promotion hopes.

Swindon were able to name Lukas Jutkiewicz, Jamie Vincent and Barry Corr, making his home debut, in their starting line-up as all shook off knocks. Blair Sturrock also took his place amongst the substitutes.

For Shrewsbury, back from injury, Andy Cooke and Michael Symes were named on the bench, as Leo Fortune-West and Derek Asamoah kept their places.

The afternoon had started brightly, but by kick-off a cold blustery wind made conditions tricky for both sides.

Five minutes in, and Zaaboub's right wing cross was collected by keeper Mackenzie as Jutkiewicz's head was closing in, but the first quarter of an hour passed as both teams tried to assess the other.

As the game opened up, referee Haywood infuriated the crowd and Swindon keeper Smith by awarding consecutive debatable corners to the visitors, then Ifil ran three quarters the length of the pitch but delayed releasing the ball until the opportunity had disappeared.

After 26 minutes it was Roberts' turn to run through the middle, but his ball to Jutkiewicz was far too long and ran through to Mackenzie in the Shrewsbury goal.

At last with half an hour gone, Jutkiewicz had the afternoon's first shot on target, but his 20-yard attempt was straight at the visitor's keeper.

Both sides were struggling to read the ball on a tricky pitch, and mistakes were common place.

Zaaboub released Nicholas on 37 minutes, but right back Hall made a good tackle to put the ball out for a throw-in. Then Edwards capitalised on a Swindon mistake in midfield, but as he ran on goal he inexplicably passed the ball into the box despite his closest team mate being thirty yards behind him.

Then five minutes before half time it was Shrewsbury who finally made the score sheet. An excellent back heel from Asamoah found Fortune West and sprung the offside trap, and he easily beat the unprotected Phil Smith from ten yards to give the visitors the lead.

As halftime approached, Lee Peacock just failed to find fellow midfielder Roberts as he cantered into the box, then a huge kick from defence saw Asamoah run directly through a vacant midfield, but his lob just cleared Smith's cross bar.

Halftime Swindon Town 0 Shrewsbury Town 1

The second half kicked off with Swindon playing towards the Town End with the strengthening wind behind them, but with the newly appeared the sun in their eyes.

Two minutes into the second half, an Andy Nicholas thrown-in fell to Ifil, who fired hard but high from eight yards, then Peacock forced Mackenzie to collect to his right.

Good work from Zaaboub then almost created a chance from his right wing cross, then the same man forced a corner as Swindon produced more threat than in the entire first 45 minutes.

Corr had a headed chance go over from a Jack Smith cross, but the offside flag was already up, then Drummond's deflection from a Peacock shot brought a smart save from his own keeper.

Swindon were pressing hard for an equaliser and Peacock just failed to connect with a lose ball in the penalty box before Jack Smith drove wide of the left hand post after 58 minutes.

Trickery from Roberts saw the Swindon man twist and turn into the box, but he failed to pull the trigger until he was bundled off the ball.Then Mackenzie claimed a Roberts' ball off the head of Corr as Swindon turned the screw.

Finally, on 66 minutes, a Zaaboub corner eventually fell to Corr who drove home from six yards for his second goal in two matches to level the scores.

Less than ten minutes later, Pook won a ball on the edge of the visitors box and played in Zaaboub, and his cross was turned in by Roberts' head to give Swindon the lead.

With 12 minutes remaining the danger of the swirling wind was again demonstrated. A speculative shot at Swindon's goal looked to be drifting harmlessly over, but was blown back under Smith's crossbar who was forced to quickly tip over for a corner.

Swindon started to drop dangerously deep, inviting the visitors to take the game to them, and four added minutes meant for a nervous end to the match for home supporters.

The game still had drama to run. When Phil Smith fell on a ball on the goal line, Cooke appeared to punch the goalkeeper as he tried to claim the ball for a corner. The melee that followed saw bookings for both sides

The result was the first defeat for the Shrews since Boxing Day and Swindon's second three points on the trot. At the end of the afternoon, the consequences were felt by both team, lifting Swindon a place into an automatic promotion spot while dropping Shrewsbury down a notch out of the play-off zone.

Swindon Town:

Phil Smith, Jack Smith, Jamie Vincent, Sofiene Zaaboub (Timlin 81 mins), Jerel Ifil (Y95 mins), Christian Roberts (Brown 81 mins), Lee Peacock (Y94 mins), Barry Corr, Andy Nicholas (Y46 mins), Michael Pook, Lukas Jutkiewicz (Sturrock 89 mins), Subs Aaron Brown, Blair Sturrock, Michael Timlin, Ashley Grimes, Claude Gnapke.

Shrewsbury Town:

Chris Mackenzie, Danny Hall, Neil Ashton, Stewart Drummond (Y71 mins), Richard Hope, Kelvin Langmead, Derek Asamoah (Symes 63 mins), Ben Davies, Dave Edwards (Jones 78 mins), Marc Tierney, Leo Fortune-West (Cooke 63 mins). Subs Scott Shearer, Michael Jones, Andy Cooke (Y94 mins), Michael Symes, Sagi Burton.

Attendance 7,335