ROBINS RELIANT ON LADY LUCK
SWINDON boss Luke Williams admitted his team had Lady Luck on their side as the Robins survived an FA Cup scare, coming from behind at National League Eastleigh to earn a replay at the County Ground.
Mikael Mandron had sent the 3,000-strong home crowd wild with his second-half opener but Michael Doughty’s penalty levelled things up within five minutes and despite some late Eastleigh chances – including seeing Ayo Obileye’s volley blocked off the line – the two sides will have to try again.
It could have been a different story for Swindon had Will Norris’ first-half header not been clawed away magnificently by Ryan Clarke in the Eastleigh goal.
Many in the stadium – Robins head coach Williams included – felt the ball had actually crossed the line despite Clarke’s superb efforts.
Instead, the League One side had to ride their luck on a number of occasions, particularly in the closing stages as Eastleigh sensed an upset was on the cards.
Williams said: “I think the opposition were excellent and probably had more attempts to score than us and created more than us.
“To some extent we rode our luck, of course we had a legitimate goal ruled out which probably would have changed the game in our favour, but in the end we were quite fortunate.
“You need to be able to be resilient in any division in football and that’s something we’ve struggled to do so hopefully that will be a platform for us.”
Norris’ effort was the high point of a fairly quiet opening period, although things livened up after the break, and especially after Mandron’s header had given the home side the lead.
Yaser Kasim, who impressed all evening, had a decent opportunity for Swindon just before Mandron’s opener. But the equailser came as John Goddard’s fine ball played in QPR loanee Doughty who rounded Clarke before being brought down by the Eastleigh man and dispatching the penalty himself.
Just minutes later James Constable wasted a glorious opportunity to put Eastleigh back in front, hitting a great cross from Michael Green straight at Swindon keeper Lawrence Vigouroux.
Connor Essam made a fine sliding block to deny Swindon’s Nathan Delfouneso and then, in injury time, substitue Obileye’s volley was blocked superbly on the line by Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill.
Eastleigh manager Ronnie Moore said: “The game’s won really once we score, I couldn’t see them scoring. We’re in there now as if we’ve lost the game which is great for us, it shows you how hurt they are and I think they’ll go away thinking this was a game for us to win.
“Swindon are a decent team, alright they’re struggling a little bit at League One level but they’ve got good players.”