Late goal sees Town fall to defeat
Fleetwood Town battled valiantly throughout, but fell to a 1-0 loss at home to Swindon Town on Saturday.
Both sides fought throughout the game but Fleetwood were unable as Cian Bolger rose above the Swindon defence from a corner but his header went just wide whilst Nicky Ajose broke the deadlock eight minutes from the end, slotting it under Alex Cairns.
Fleetwood however, remain third in Sky Bet League One after the result.
Town made three changes to the side that drew against AFC Wimbledon as Conor McLaughlin, George Glendon and Ash Hunter came in for Cameron Brannagan, Markus Schwabl and Godswill Ekpolo. Swindon fielded the same eleven that won at home against Millwall last week.
The first chance of the game came after just one minute as Fleetwood earned a free kick near the halfway line, Glendon whipped the ball in but Ashley Eastham’s header looped safely into the ‘keeper’s arms.
Town carried on pressing throughout the opening ten minutes and they managed to forge a few more chances. Bolger almost capitalised on David Ball free-kick before Hunter’s shot from the edge of the box went just wide.
Swindon’s first chance came just before the quarter of an hour mark as Jonathan Obika latched onto a long throw-in by Nathan Thompson but after spinning around and setting up, his shot went well wide, not worrying Cairns.
minute, Ball broke the offside trap and collected a through ball that was played down the left wing, he then ran and passed the ball to Hunter on the edge of the box but his shot curled the wrong way, sending it well wide.thIn the 24
Swindon stayed on the back foot as Bolger could have opened the scoring as he was unmarked on a Fleetwood corner but his header went just wide, much like Hunter’s chance a minute later as he tried one from long range but it curled wide of the far post.
Their best chance in the first half came at the half hour mark as winger Conor Thomas found some space on the edge of the Town box and forced Cairns into a diving save, leading to a Swindon corner, the resulting corner led to nothing.
Fleetwood went back on the attack straight after that as Hunter tried spinning his man in the box but his shot went just past the post. He had another chance a couple of minutes later, latching onto Ball’s pass but it went wide yet again.
Town had the last shot of the half as they won a free kick just outside the Swindon penalty area, Glendon stepped up to it and struck a shot towards the top corner but it wasn’t meant to be as Vigouroux had it covered.
Not long after the half time break, Fleetwood had another chance to go ahead after a goal line scramble between the Town attacks and the visiting defenders but no matter what, the ball would not go over the line.
minute when Fleetwood started a counter-attack from a Swindon corner, Ball passed to hunter who ran to ball toward the opposition’s box, a chain of passes led to Ball taking a shot with his left foot but it was easily gathered by Vigouroux.thThe game fell silent until the 64
Swindon then looked the most likely to score as they created multiple chances, the first being a shot from Ajose, followed by one from Obika before a cleanly struck shot from substitute Ben Gladwin was blocked by the Town defence.
With 15 minutes to go, Swindon went close, this time at the near post, as Thomas’ shot from inside the six-yard box was blocked by Eastham, deflecting it inches wide of the post.
The game turned scrappy in the final ten minutes but Ajose found a gap in the Fleetwood defence after being played through by Charlie Colkett. The striker pushed his way past his marker before slotting the ball under Cairns.
The final chance of the game was a header by Bolger from a Glendon corner but it went wide of the target, not troubling the Swindon ‘keeper.
Alex Cairns; Conor McLaughlin, Ashley Eastham, Cian Bolger, Ben Davies, Amari’i Bell (Joe Maguire, 67’); Kyle Dempsey, George Glendon, Bobby Grant; David Ball (Cameron Brannagan, 78’), Ashley Hunter (Wes Burns, 67’).FTFC:
Chris Neal, Nathan Pond, Victor Nirennold, Martyn Woolford. SUBS:
Lawrence Vigouroux; Nathan Thompson, Raphael Rossi-Branco, Dion Conroy, Fankaty Dabo; Rohan Ince, Conor Thomas, Charlie Colkett, John Goddard (Ben Gladwin, 68’); Jonathan Obika, Nicky Ajose (Luke Norris, 90’).STFC:
Will Henry, Anton Rodgers, James Brophy, Ellis Iandolo, Jesse Starkey.SUBS: