Swindon Town 0 Walsall 3 

Town fail to perform as play-off hopes dwindle

 

Coca-Cola League One

 

RESULT: Swindon Town 0 Walsall 3

 

Walsall scorers: L Holmes 11 & 57, A Nicholls 90+1

 

The “return of the old boy” syndrome struck once again as a brace from former Town loanee Lee Holmes was enough to help sink a lacklustre Swindon side.

Phil Smith was handed a surprise recall as Peter Brezovan dropped to the bench, Lee Peacock and Simon Cox also returned to the starting line-up in place of the injured Michael Pook and Blair Sturrock.

 

On the back foot: Town never got going throughout the game calyx multimedia

Town were give a warning after only 50 seconds when another former player Tommy Mooney had the ball in the net only to be flagged for offside.

However, the home side failed to heed the wake up call and found themselves a goal behind when Holmes curled in a stunning free kick past the helpless Smith, following a needless free-kick given away by the unusually poor Jerel Iffel.

 

Stunning freekick: Town old boy Lee Holmes celebrates after putting Walsall ahead calyx multimedia

Swindon failed to recover from this early blow as Walsall continued to press and looked the more likely to extend their lead.

Thankfully as the half-time whistle blew Maurice Malpas' men only found themselves 1-0 down.

 

Booed off

Some undoubtedly stern words from the manager during the break looked to have had an effect as the opening minutes of the second half showed some promise for Swindon.

Unfortunately they didn't last long as Holmes grabbed his and Walsall's second goal as he slotted home at the second time of asking.

Swindon's best opportunity to get back into the game fell to Billy Paynter but his glancing header drifted agonisingly wide.

 

Town's only threat: Billy Paynter calyx multimedia

In all honesty it would have been more than they deserved as they were outmatched in every area of the field.

The icing on the cake for the travelling fans was added in the dying moments when a defensive mix-up gifted substitute Alex Nicholls the easiest of opportunities to seal the win.

Town's best assets of team spirit, hard work and determination were severely lacking, somewhat surprisingly, considering their supposed play-off intent.

Maurice Malpas only has three day to re-install some confidence into his wilting team before they face another play-off rival in the shape of Oldham on Tuesday night, in what now appears a must win game if they are to harbour any hopes of a possible trip to Wembley in May.

 

Look who's in the crowd?: it was real old boys day at the County Ground, what with Tommy Mooney and Lee Holmes on the pitch plus - spotted in the stands - former manager Andy King. So who have you got your eye on then, Kingy? calyx multimedia

The League One Table

 

1 Swansea 32 35 70
2 Nottm Forest 32 24 56
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3 Doncaster 32 19 56
4 Carlisle 31 14 55
5 Walsall 33 14 52
6 Tranmere 34 8 52
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7 Southend 33 6 50
8 Leyton Orient 34 -5 49
9 Leeds 33 23 47
10 Northampton 34 0 46
11 Brighton 31 6 45
12 Oldham 32 5 43
13 Swindon 32 2 43
14 Huddersfield 32 -13 43
15 Bristol Rovers 30 1 41
16 Yeovil 34 -13 41
17 Hartlepool 33 0 40
18 Millwall 33 -14 36
19 Cheltenham 34 -19 36
20 Gillingham 32 -18 35
--------------------------
21 Crewe 33 -18 35
22 Luton 32 -13 24
23 Bournemouth 34 -17 23
24 Port Vale 34 -27 22

 

NEXT GAME:

 

Oldham (a)

Tuesday 26 February 2008, 7.45pm

Coca-Cola League One