Frustrated Cooper is stunned by leveller
SWINDON boss Mark Cooper was left to rue how his side had not picked up three points after the Robins drew against Crewe at the Alexandra Stadium.
Ryan Harley had given Swindon the lead with a thundering finish early in the second-half after Chuks Aneke missed a first-half penalty for the hosts, but Vadaine Oliver’s spectacular strike rescued a point for the Alex.
But Cooper was frustrated his side had failed to put the hosts to the sword.
“It’s very, very frustrating. I thought we totally dominated the game for 80 minutes,” he said.
“We gave them a little bit of a lift and they finished a little bit stronger but the game should have been dead and should have been over.
“You can’t have that much play in and around the final third and still only be winning 1-0.
“You’re not talking about half-chances – you’re talking about balls being rolled across the six-yard box for a tap-in and people missing it and going through one-onone.
“The law of averages says it can’t happen but that’s football and that’s why it’s such an interesting game.”
Nathan Thompson should have given the Robins a 23rd-minute lead after latching onto Yaser Kasim’s ball to go one-on-one, but the fullback put his effort wide.
Crewe were awarded a 43rd-minute penalty after Harley blocked Cameron Park’s cross with his arm but Aneke put the resulting spot-kick over the bar.
Swindon took the lead following Nathan Byrne’s weaving run, ending with Harley unleashing a thundering 48th-minute strike past Ben Garratt from the edge of the area.
Aneke could have got Crewe back on level terms twice but saw a close-range header saved and a long-range strike ricochet off the bar in the 75th minute. But Crewe equalised through a magnificent 77th-minute goal from substitute Oliver who fired past Belford with a 25-yard effort.
Railwaymen boss Steve Davis said:“We battled it out and it was a well-earned point – they didn’t hurt us enough in the final third apart from the long shot that went in the near post.
“We caused them problems towards the end of the game but we didn’t really get going until the last 15 minutes.
“We were very spasmodic in the first half in our possession and how we didn’t keep the ball well enough when we did win it, we weren’t able to counter.
“It (the penalty) was very uncharacteristically put over the bar – he always rolls it into the corner.”