Money and Good Looks 

Christmas comes early for Town fans as new Fitton 'era' starts with a win

Coca Cola League One

RESULT: Swindon Town 2 Hartlepool 1

Swindon scorers: Cox 49, Corr (pen) 75

Hartlepool scorer: Moore 46

 

If money and good looks are the secret of success then Swindon Town had both in abundance on Saturday.

 

Town's prospective new owner, millionaire Andrew Fitton, attending his first game as head of the consortium who have now taken partial control of the club - with super model Sophie Dahl also taking in a game at the County Ground alongside boyfriend Jamie Cullum.

 

Looking good at Swindon: Sophie Dahl and Jamie Cullum enjoying the Town game at which Andrew Fitton (below) unveiled his plans for the club calyx multimedia

 

The Swindon jazz star, Ms Dahl and Mr Fitton taking their seats among the 5,800 strong crowd who cheered Town to what proved to be an inspired victory.

 

A second-half penalty from Barry Corr giving Town all the points, and their first win in three starts.

 

Controversy

Town had the better of the opening period and were bitterly unlucky to go into the half time break behind.

 
Some atrocious refereeing decisions gave the visitors the opportunity to take the lead deep into first-half injury time. Following the award of a dubious free-kick, striker Ian Moore scrambling the ball home.

As the half-time whistle blew a chorus of 'booooooos' reverberated around the ground in protest at the referee.

 

Fightback

Town came out in the second half with a renewed vigour, and levelled things up within three minutes of the re-start.

 

After some good link-up play down the right from Sofi Zaaboub and Miguel Comminges, the ball was met by top scorer Simon Cox who made no mistake from 8 yards out.

 

Santa Corrs: the Town striker getting back to his best

Town continued to dominate the game but had to wait until the 73rd minute to hammer home their advantage. Barr Corr latched onto a Cox pass and burst into the area only to be dragged down by Pool's defender Michael Nelson.

 

Corr picked himself up to take the penalty and smashed the ball home in front of a packed Town End.

Swindon continued to press and looked to catch the visitors on the break and were unlucky not to finish the game with three goals, as Craig Easton fired over when it seemed easier to score.

 

Injury setback

One negative for the Town was the loss of Ady Williams to injury after only four minutes of his comeback – hopefully it will only be a minor set-back for the experienced defender.

Town travel to Yeovil on Boxing Day and will be looking to avenge the defeat they suffered earlier in the season at the hands of Russell Slade's men.

 

The League One Table

 

1 Nottm Forest 20 21 37
2 Swansea 19 17 37
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3 Leeds 21 26 36
4 Carlisle 19 16 36
5 Leyton Orient 21 0 35
6 Walsall 21 6 32
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7 Southend 21 2 32
8 Yeovil 21 0 32
9 Doncaster 21 9 31
10 Brighton 20 6 30
11 Huddersfield 21 -12 29
12 Tranmere 21 3 28
13 Hartlepool 2 12 27
14 Oldham 20 2 27
15 Swindon 20 1 26
16 Northampton 21 -4 24
17 Crewe 21 -12 24
18 Gillingham 20 -15 22
19 Bristol Rovers 19 -7 19
20 Millwall 20 -13 19
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21 Cheltenham 20 -14 18
22 Luton 20 -1 16
23 Port Vale 21 -15 16
24 Bournemouth 21 -18 16

NEXT GAME:

 

Yeovil (a)

Wednesday 26 December 2007, 3.00pm

Coca Cola League 1