RICHIE Wellens is adamant his players remained switched on in the minutes that followed Jerry Yates’ stoppage time strike that appeared to have booked Swindon Town’s spot in the FA Cup second round.

Yates and his teammates wheeled away in jubilation after the 22-year-old found Scott Flinders’ bottom corner in the first of three additional minutes at the end of the second half to score the game's opening goal.

Dozens of Swindon fans joined Wellens’ 10 outfield players on the pitch as it seemed as though the club’s Whaddon Road curse had finally been ended.

But Michael Duff’s substitute Alex Addai found himself in the right place at the right time.

The Cheltenham midfielder benefitted from Kaiyne Woolery’s deflected clearance, that fell fortuitously to his feet, as he rescued the Gloucestershire side a first-round replay.

Wellens said: “I don’t think we switched off. We setup, and usually in that scenario the ball gets sent back.

“We were deep, Kaiyne (Woolery) went to clear it but the ball hit one of their players in the chest and they scored.

“If I’m being honest, the only way Cheltenham were going to score today – apart from a ricochet goal like that – was from a set piece.

“I’m proud of the players and they performance they put in. We deserve to be in the next round, but maybe should’ve entered half time a couple of goals up – their ‘keeper (Scott Flinders) made a couple of saves.”

Match stats indicate Swindon deserved a spot in the second round, and Wellens would agree that his men were hard done by.

Swindon outshot Cheltenham 13 to six, while goalscorer Yates had a goal flagged for offside in addition to being denied by the post.

The 1-1 draw extended Swindon’s winless run in the shadows of Cleeve Hill.

But Wellens remains upbeat about his team’s chances of booking a spot in the second round.

He added: “We’re cursed aren’t we, we’re cursed at this ground.

“We weren’t great in the first 10 minutes – the game wasn’t great in that period. But I thought we were tremendous in the 80 minutes after.

“We put balls in behind, we created space, we played in front of them and spaced round them – it was a great performance, and I thought it was a good game.

“But we deserved to win, no doubt about it. We deserved to win in August, but today even more so.

“We’re a good team, and I’m encouraged by what we created with Lloyd Isgrove, Keshi Anderson and Eoin Doyle.”