SWINDON Town perhaps saw their valiant attempt to reach the League Two play-offs end with a frustrating 0-0 draw away at Newport County on Tuesday night.

Dominant for large parts of the game, Richie Wellens’ men were unable to make any of their half-chances pay and ultimately lost ground on the teams above them.

The only saving grace for Town would have been that fellow play-off chasers Exeter – the last team to occupy a top-seven spot – lost away at Macclesfield.

With five games left in the season, the gap is still only three points, but there are also three teams to overtake in the race for seventh.

Richie Wellens named an unchanged team once again for Town’s crucial trip to South Wales, perhaps in a bid to give his players the chance to perform for 90 minutes instead of 45, as was the case in Saturday’s draw against Yeovil.

Lawrence Vigouroux was not involved once again as the saga involving the Chilean stopper rumbles on – Will Henry taking up substitute goalkeeper duties instead.

Newport started in the ascendancy and put Town under a spot of pressure early on – the home side had claims for a penalty waved away by referee Kevin Johnson after an excellent last-stitch tackle aroused the attentions of the home faithful.

And despite warning of the poor quality of the pitch, Wellens’ men still opted to try and play the ball around the floor for the vast majority of the first half, but found themselves gifting possession back to their hosts more often than not.

County did not make the most of their early dominance though as one of their only attempts at goal sailed over from Padraig Amond.

Theo Robinson had Town’s first chance of the game after a quarter of an hour, side-footing a parried shot over from six-yards out before Keshi Anderson stung the palms of Day from a long-range free-kick.

The game turned into a rather scrappy affair for the vast majority of the first-half, Sheehan and Anderson picking up a yellow apiece for robust challenges, while Town finished the first half as the stronger of the two teams.

Anderson did manage to produce the best moment of quality for Town in the opening 45 after spinning away from the attentions of a County defender, driving towards the box and seeing his effort kept out by the legs of ‘keeper Joe Day.

Town started the second half in largely the same manner as they ended the first, on top, but unable to create a clear-cut chance.

Ten minutes after the restart, Kyle Bennett collected the ball on the edge of the box before making some space on his right, however, he could only curl straight into the arms of Day.

Not long after, Bennett ran along the edge of the box before slipping a pass inside the full back for Kyle Knoyle to latch onto.

Knoyle slid the ball across the face of goal, but Anderson couldn't quite get on the end to make it count and the opportunity passed the visitors by.

Town continued to dominate the ball in the second half as the home fans grew increasingly frustrated with their team’s inability to hold onto the ball for long periods.

Amond did nearly poke home with 20 minutes to play though, almost latching onto a long throw, but McCormick claimed, and Town continued to see the better of the chances.

Newport goalkeeper Day had to be at his best to twice Deny Dion Conroy late on as well. Firstly, Conroy saw a header clawed off the line by a combination of ‘keeper and defender, before his volleyed rebound was miraculously armed away once again.

Lively all night, Kyle Bennett had two efforts go close in the final 15 minutes – first, he drove a powerful effort into the side netting before later having a shot from the penalty spot deflected away for a corner.

With both teams pushing for a winner, Newport did have chances to snatch the points late on. Dan Butler crashed a shot narrowly wide of McCormick’s left-hand post before substitute Marc Richards headed wide deep into added time.

Ultimately, it was a night of frustration for Town as they plugged away, but could not make their dominance count.