Southend 2 Swindon 2 

Coca-Cola League One

RESULT: Southend United 2 Swindon Town 2

Town scorers: Paynter 1, Austin 10

Southend scorers: Spencer 85, Baldwin 89

A dream start ended in a nightmare finish, as the curse of the late goal returned to cost Town dear.

Two-up and coasting to what everyone thought was away victory number six, Southend scored twice in the last five minutes to grab a draw - and leave manager Danny Wilson fuming on the sidelines.

 

A result that had looked most unlikely after Swindon's in-form strike partnership of Austin and Paynter combined once again to give the Robins a 2-0 lead inside ten minutes.

 

45 seconds

 

The first where Paynter fired home after only 45 seconds, before Austin poached his tenth of the season to cap a lightning start.

But after dominating the game and having chances to go further ahead, Town shot themselves in the foot with a sloppy defensive display at the death.

 

Southend's first resulting from a needlessly given away free-kick, before the home crowd urged on the Shrimpers to pile forward in search of the equaliser.

 

The leveller coming when a Southend long ball resulted in stand-in keeper Phil Smith beaten by a close-range header.

 

"We looked tired in the end," commented Wilson, "and perhaps Tuesday night's victory [3-0 against Leeds] took a lot out of us."

The top of the table:

1 Norwich 29 34 63
2 Leeds United 27 29 60

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3 Charlton 28 20 55
4 Colchester 27 13 49
5 Swindon 26 8 48
6 Millwall 28 11 46
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7 Huddersfield 26 20 45
8 MK Dons 28 4 43
9 Bristol Rovers 26 -3 38
10 Brentford 27 -3 34 

NEXT GAME:

Charlton Athletic (H)
Coca-Cola League One

Saturday 06 February 2010