Sports Round-Up 3 January 2008 

On the up: Town boss Dave Byrne looking forward to Saturday's game against Barnet - and below, celebrating Town's battling, last-gasp point against Swansea > Swindon 1 Swansea 1 - match report and pictures

Cautious optimism was the mood at the County Ground today in our first press conference of 2008 – with caretaker manager Dave Byrne.

Following the Town’s unbeaten run over the festive period, which included two wins and two draws, Byrne is looking forward to the upcoming games.

With Barnet in the F.A. Cup on Saturday, the Town boss and his team are confident of a victory and progress into the 4th round.

“We want to show them who the League One side are and that we deserve to be the favourites for the game,” said an excited Byrne.

Town’s impressive run of form began at home with a win against Hartlepool and continued through out the Christmas and New Year Fixtures with a win over Yeovil and draws at Bournemouth and Swansea.

The highlight was the impressive 1-1 draw againsts the league leaders Swansea on Tuesday. Despite being down to ten men for the majority of the game the players batted back and secured a deserved point with a late penalty scored by Simon Cox.

“Ady and myself asked to be judged when we had a full squad to choose from and now we have that you can see that the results are coming,” said Byrne.

 

Football - Swindon Supermarine

Looking for first win of the year: manager Mark Collier

Swindon Supermarine enjoyed mixed fortunes over the festive period – with one win, one draw and a loss.

They got underway with a 1-0 away victory against Hitchin Town, although manager Mark Collier was the first to admit that it wasn’t a ‘classic performance.’

Next up was a Boxing Day Fixture to remember as Marine drew 1-1 against local rivals Cirencester Town.

However, this was largely due to the heroics of former Swindon Town keeper Matt Bulman who produced a performance worthy of a much higher level. The Cirencester keeper denied Marine on a number of occasions through out the game - to earn his side a share of the points. Supermarine ended the game with ten men as Chris Thompson saw red for a second bookable offence.

Unfortunately Mark Collier’s men were unable to continue their good form as they went down 1-0 away at Bashley on New Year's Day.

Up next for Marine on Saturday is the visit of Yate Town who sit six places and 5 points ahead in the British Gas Premier League.

Ice Hockey - Swindon npower Wildcats

 

Impressive win: Wildcats players at a recent event in the town centre

The npower Wildcats got 2008 off to the best of starts with a highly impressive 4-0 victory against the Slough Jets.

A hat-trick from the prolific Joel Petkoff did the damage for the Cats.

However, the inspiration for the victory came from the other end of the rink as netminder Nathan Craze made some outstanding saves to shut out the free scoring Jets – who had won their last game 10-0.

His man of the match performance enabled his side to claim the massive scalp against one of the EPL title favourites.

Speedway - Swindon Robins

Injury: new rider Travis McGowan suffered a dislocated shoulder in an accident in Australia

Congratulations must go to Leigh Adams and the whole of Swindon Speedway who claimed a double swoop in the Swindon Sports Awards this week.

Leigh Adams was named Swindon Sports Personality of the year and the whole Robins squad were name Swindon Sports Team of year.

Adams fought off stiff competition from Jamie Cox for the individual title, but the Team title was a unanimous victory with nearly double the amount of votes received by any other Team.

Speedway fans will no doubt be waiting in eager anticipation for action to get back under way at the Abbey Stadium in March.

However an injury to new rider Travis McGowan will potentially dent Alun Rossiter’s pre season plans.

The full extent of the injury isn’t known yet but is believed to be small dislocation of the shoulder. He suffered the injury while riding in the latest round of the Australian Championship in Gillman.