Swindon Town 3 Huddersfield 2 

Coca-Cola League One

 

RESULT: Swindon Town 3 Huddersfield 2

 

Swindon scorers: B Paynter 4, C Easton 23,31

Huddersfield scorer: P Jevons 39 (pen), 77 (pen)

 

Sent Off: L Peacock, B Paynter

 

Nine-man Swindon bravely held on for a deserved three points that keeps their faint play-off hopes alive.

Boss Maurice Malpas recalled winger Anthony McNamee back to the starting line-up in a bid to find a creative spark.

 

He was also forced to make a late change when Jack Smith came in for Jamie Vincent who suffered a tight groin in the warm-up.

 

Down to ten: Lee Peacock is shown the red card after a late challenge on Malvin Kamara

Town got off to the best possible start as Billy Paynter flicked home strike partner Simon Cox's left-wing corner after only four minutes.

Winger McNamee was also showing some sparkling form, justifying his recall as he created Craig Easton's first and Swindon's second in 23 minutes.

 

First of five: Billy Paynter finds the back of the net after just four minutes

The former Watford wideman brilliantly picked out Easton at the far post and his volley rifled into the bottom corner.

Town's jubilant fans only had to wait until just after the half-hour mark for the third goal, as once again a left-wing cross found Craig Easton unmarked in the middle, and the Scot's strike found the back of the net via a deflection off defender Robbie Williams.

 

Double celebrations: Craig Easton scored twice in eight minutes

Huddersfield were handed a lifeline just before the break when they were awarded a highly dubious penalty which was slotted home by Phil Jevons.

The second-half sprung into action on the hour mark when Town midfielder Lee Peacock was shown his marching orders, for what looked to be a strong but fair tackle to most inside the County Ground.

 

This was one of a number of decisions that managed to baffle both sets of fans and players.

One decision that was correct was the second sending-off 15 minutes later, which Billy Paynter's moment of madness cost him when he elected to punch Andy Booth's goal bound header off the line, and in the process earn himself a red card.

 

Walk of shame: Paynter joins Peacock after the second sending off

Jevons once again stepped up and slotted home his second penalty of the night.

With Town down to nine men Malpas brought on Moses Ashikodi to add some pace, but the lacklustre frontman incensed the home fans by his lack of desire, and within minutes found himself replaced by Christian Roberts.

Despite some late pressure and a fine save from Phil Smith, the visitors were unable to find an equaliser as Swindon held on for a richly deserved victory.

The result moves them up to 12th in the table and only five points off of the play-off places.

 

The League One table

 

1 Swansea 33 36 73
2 Doncaster 34 21 62
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3 Carlisle 33 16 61
4 Nottm Forest 33 23 56
5 Walsall 34 15 55
6 Tranmere 35 7 52
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7 Southend 34 6 51
8 Leeds 34 24 50
9 Leyton Orient 35 -5 50
10 Brighton 33 8 49
11 Oldham 35 7 47
12 Swindon 35 2 47
13 Northampton 35 0 47
14 Bristol Rovers 32 1 44
15 Hartlepool 35 -1 43
16 Huddersfield 34 -15 43
17 Yeovil 35 -13 42
18 Millwall 35 -15 37
19 Cheltenham 35 -19 37
20 Crewe 35 -19 36
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21 Gillingham 34 -20 36
22 Bournemouth 35 -15 26
23 Luton 34 -14 25
24 Port Vale 35 -30 22

NEXT GAME

 

Leyton Orient (a)

Tuesday 11 March 2008, 7.45pm

Coca-Cola League One