Shrewsbury Town

Town: Weale, Grandison (Mambo), Jacobson, Jones, Summerfield (Rodgers), Richards (c), Morgan, Taylor, Goldson, McAllister, Bradshaw (McGinn)

Subs: Anyon, Purdie, Parry, Mambo, Gayle.

Swindon: Foderingham, Ferry, Flint, Ritchie, Roberts, McCormack (McEveley 84), Thompson, Williams, Ward, Martin (Collins74), Hollands ( Miller 45)

Subs: Bedwell, Navarro, De Vita, Rooney

Ref: R Clark

Assistants: A Ihringova & G Taylor

Fourth Official: M Howes

Graham Turner makes two tactical changes with Tom Bradshaw and Luke Summerfield coming into the starting line-up with Luke Rodgers and Rob Purdie dropping to the bench, Matt Richards moves to the right of midfield with Summerfield returning to the centre.

As snow and ice gripped the country praise must go to the Swindon staff and fans for getting the pitch and stadium clear and ready for the game.  

Its was a pretty flat opening 10 minutes as both sides looked to get to grips with the conditions and take a foothold in the game.  The best chances came to the home side with Ferry making a great run into the box but Darren Jones was alert to get in a great tackle in the box then Chris Weale pulled off another great save after a quick Swindon corner found Hollands at the back post.

Swindon's best chance came on the 20 minute mark when Town made heavy work of clearing the ball, it kept coming back at the Town goal and when it dropped to Chris Martin he was in behind the Town defence and hit in a decent shot that had the Swindon fans out of their seats but the ball flew into the side netting.

The home side were putting a lot of pressure onto the visitors but Town were doing the hard work and digging in to keep Swindon at bay.  Weale was called into action a number of times but the Town defence were giving him good protection.

Town were starting to look a little more dangerous as an attacking force as the half wore on, Richards and McAllister were beginning to get forward to support Morgan and Bradshaw more often and this was starting to cause the Swindon defence a number of problems.

Town's best chance came after Hollands went down a little too easily for ref Clark, this allowed McAllister to gain possession and push forward into a lot of space, he kept his run going and on the edge of the box drove in a shot but he got under it and flew over the target.

Swindon had a good chance to grab the lead just before the half-time break when a Town attack broke down after Dave McAllister looked to have been fouled in a Town break, the ball was cleared long down the field and Grandison misjudged the ball and this allowed Andy Williams to gain possession, he drove towards the Town goal but Grandison did enough to get in and stop the run and then Weale nicked in to grab the ball.

Town started the second half with Yado Mambo coming on to replace Jermaine Grandison who had been struggling with a hip problem.

The home side then got their noses in front with two quick goals, the first a penalty after Andy Williams had gone down in the box after little pressure from Darren Jones, despite the protests from Town ref Clark had no hesitation in pointing to the post.  Chris Martin stepped up and calmly stroked his kick the opposite side to Chris Weale's dive.  Then minutes later it was 2-0 to Swindon after Matt Ritchie had lifted a good ball into the backpost, Chris Martin was there to head the ball back across goal and there was Andy Williams to head the ball home.

10 minutes into the half Graham Turner made his second change with Stephen McGinn coming onto replace Tom Bradshaw, McGinn slotted into the midfield with Jon Taylor looking like he was pushing up to support Marvin Morgan.

Swindon were still on top of the game but Town were looking a little more solid and were starting to deal with them again.  All the attacking play was from Swindon but Town were starting to look a little more dangerous.

With just under half-hour of the game remaining Graham Turner made his final switch with Luke Rodgers coming on to replace Luke Summerfield, Rodgers went up along side Morgan and Jon Taylor returned to the midfield.

Town had a couple of bright attacking moves, the first when they moved the ball quickly all across the County Ground pitch then ended with Matt Richards nearly sneaking in at the backpost.  Then from the resulting corner Darren Jones had a good chance with a header but he put it wide of the target.

Town had a lifeline on 892 minutes when Jon Taylor received a cross field ball from Matt Richards, Taylor nicked the ball past McCormack and drove into the penalty box but the Swindon captain then took out Taylor for a blatant penalty.  Matt Richards placed the ball and drove in a low shot but Foderingham had guessed correctly and got across to pull off a good save and the Swindon defence were alert to get in and clear the danger.

It was a game where Town took on a really good team but didn't really get going over the 90-minutes.  A lot of effort and hard work from the visitors but little in the way of attacking play to really test Foderingham.