Richie’s Robins tie in a tale of two Towns

RICHIE Wellens felt his Swindon Town team should have eased comfortably past Cheltenham Town, but Alex Addai’s last-gasp goal means a replay beckons.

“First ten minutes we weren’t great, but for the next 80 minutes we were tremendous,” Wellens said.

“We put balls in behind them, we created space, we passed around them and it was a very good performance.

“Two teams quite high in the league and it was quite a good game, but we deserved to win, there is no doubt about that.

“We deserved to win last time we came here [a 2-2 draw in August] and we deserved it even more so today.

“We were dominant and we thought we’d won it, but we have another opportunity to do it again.

All the drama unfolded in stoppage-time, with Jerry Yates giving Swindon the lead after 91 minutes, but Addai levelled almost immediately and the sides will meet again at the County Ground.

Looking for their first ever win at Cheltenham, Swindon were on top for much of the game and had the best chances to take the lead during the first half.

Ben Tozer made an important block from Kaiyne Woolery and the ball fell kindly for goalkeeper Scott Flinders after 18 minutes.

Flinders blocked well from Woolery three minutes later after Rohan Ince conceded possession.

Swindon’s best chance of the opening 45 minutes fell to Jerry Yates, who was through one-on-one, but Flinders once again intervened to ensure it remained level at the break. Yates saw a header hit the right post after a cross from Dion Donohue in the 57th minute as Swindon continued to look the most threatening, taking the lead through Yates’ shot inside the bottom right corner.

But before the away fans had stopped celebrating, substitute Addai slotted home at the other end.

Cheltenham boss Michael Duff admitted his team were offcolour and fortunate.

“We probably should have got beaten, so credit to Swindon,” Duff said.

“It’s another team that’s come with a plan and we couldn’t quite work it out.

“That’s the worst we’ve been for a long time, that, but we have managed to not get beat, so there are positives.”