As I settled in for the evening, my heart was pounding, my toes curling and fear looming from deep within me as I watched a horror unfold. “The Return” was on the screen, a very forgettable film but it was the horror unfolding at Sixfields that had me in a real state as I watched the score ticker on my laptop with a return of a different kind putting us back in all sorts of relegation trouble.
It was Simon Cox’s latest return to Sixfields with Swindon and he was the key to our downfall inevitably despite the brightest of openings from Stuart Gray’s side. Adebayo Akinfenwa had us in front even before I’d lifted the lid on my computer and started the evening. The front man had struck early on Saturday and he was on hand once more even earlier this time around to give us the lead with a rebound effort following Giles Coke’s initial effort.
Simon Cox was unfortunately on top of his game though and fired two warning shots even before he put Swindon level on the fifteen minute mark. The Cobblers were trying to pass their way out of defence and Anthony McNamee took advantage of an error to cross for Cox to score via a deflection off Jason Crowe.
Both sides had chances to go in front with Bayo at one end and Michael Timlin at the other making good chances but it was Cox again who struck to give the visitors a lead that they wouldn’t suurender for the rest of the game on the half hour. The former Cobblers loan man lobbed Chris Dunn after good work from Billy Paynter.
Paynter himself added a third to leave us with a massive task to do just before half-time when he beat the offside trap to fire home. Stuart Gray responded by making a double change with Ikechi Anya and Andy Holt coming on for Giles Coke and Liam Davis. Scott Vernon also came off the bench mid-way through the half, replacing Aleksander Prijovic.
With time and goals not on our side, it was looking bleak until Danny Jackman came up with the goods once more with a free kick that put us right back in the game with just over twenty minutes to go. This is when the heart was really racing with a massive part of the season resting on the final quarter of this game.
We began to storm forward looking for that equaliser and after a penalty decision didn’t go our way with Vernon being felled by the keeper it was all but over when Swindon caught us on the break and Cox delivered the sucker punch of goal number four for his side, chesting the ball home following good work again from Paynter.
There was somehow life left in us yet and substitute Anya hit a third for us with three minutes to go to set up a real finale at Sixfields. As we looked for an incredible equaliser, Akinfenwa volleyed wide before we agonisingly had a goal disallowed from the resulting corner.
Swindon survived the storm and took home the crucial three points, leaving us back in relegation trouble, just one place above the bottom four. What happens in the next week will play a massive part in the rest of the season, with the horror of relegation looming.
As with “The Return,” which by now I had stopped watching all together, I sincerely hope there is no sequel to this showing.
No comments:
Post a Comment