COOPER’S SO A WIN AS BIG

Rocking Robins remain second

BEN GLADWIN seized his chance from the bench to show Swindon can triumph when their big guns are misfiring, with his late winner delighting boss Mark Cooper.

The visitors thought their work for the day was done and they would be escaping from Wiltshire with a hardearned point before Gladwin’s thumping header flew past Chris Maxwell with just minutes left.

It left the Robins breathing down the necks of the league leaders, but too many of Swindon’s key men left their ‘A’ games at home, opening the door for an unlikely point for Fleetwood against the division’s form team.

Early efforts on goal from Yaser Kasim and Nathan Byrne tested Fleetwood’s resolve.

But the visitors were more than up to the task and replied with a genuine opening of their own on 20 minutes.

A rare lapse by Nathan Thompson gifted possession to Tom Hitchcock who in turn played in his strike partner Paterson. Wes Foderingham stood up well to parry his closerange shot once, and then twice as the rebound was fired his way.

Mark Cooper said the win is proof of the steely resolve that is growing in his young side.

“Last year we could well have lost this,” he said. “But as we’ve proved against Bristol City, Preston and here we kept our discipline and shape. We looked a really good team at times.

“I understand the crowd can get frustrated, but we have to be patient and take our time, we can’t afford to get frustrated.

“I’ve been asking them to play the ball and there will be no recriminations from me.

“Nathan Thompson played the ball, he didn’t see the player and kicked it straight to him.

“The pleasing thing was to see everyone rushing back to help out.

“Apart from a couple of half-chances we were not under much threat.

“Ben is pushing for a start and has brilliant ability.

“If he carries on adding goals to his game, he can go a long way.”

Jon Obika was the biggest culprit of leaving his ammunition on the sidelines, wasting decent chances after first stripping Steven Schumacher of possession after the restart and firing over.

He carved himself another opening with two step-overs fooling first Stephen Crainey, then Stephen Jordan, but his shot was again wasteful. Jack Stephens made a crucial clearance just off his goal line from Antoni Sarcevic’s goalbound shot.

Against the run of play, Fleetwood