Match Report: Swindon Town vs Forest Green Rovers

By Alfie Howlett - 9 March 2020

Crime

Swindon: 0 Forest Green: 2
Saturday 7th March 2020

Swindon slipped to their first defeat at the County Ground since late September this weekend. A mastermind from ex Swindon gaffer Mark Cooper saw his out of form Forest Green side walk away with all 3 points.

Swindon came into the meeting after a 2-0 win against Scunthorpe on Tuesday night whereas Forest Green had only picked up one victory since the end of 2019. It's fair to say that the form book was rather irrelevant in this fixture with Forest Green looking more like the in form title chasers rather than the struggling mid table side. Swindon really struggled to get the game started to their usual tempo which has seen them score so many early goals this season.
 
And as a result of Town's slow start Forest Green took the lead after just 5 minutes. It was a simple move involving just 3 passes following Forest Green winning the second ball on the half way line. They then passed the ball out to the left wing where the Forest Green player was able to execute a perfect ball to the back post where Matthew Stevens was able to tap the ball in to make it 1-0 to the village team. 
 
Swindon's best chance of the first half came when the returning Keshi Anderson turned his way of of trouble in his own half and then passed the ball to Diallang Jaiyesemi. Jaiyesemi was then able to cut it back to Jerry Yates however his shot was blocked on the line by the Forest Green defender. The next chance for Swindon came when Keshi Anderson took a long range shot however unfortunately it came of the cross bar. So at half time the visitors had the advantage.
 
The second half saw a repeat of the first half when Forest Green doubled their advantage after just 5 minutes. With little players forward the Forest Green player just put a hopeless cross in with just 1 man to aim for. Despite this Ebou Adams out jumped the Swindon defence to direct a beautiful headed into the top corner. 2-0 to Rovers. 
 
Despite this Swindon struggled to create any clear cut chances. The closest they came to getting a goal back was when Rob Hunt crossed the ball to Eoin Doyle who went down after a push in the back. However the officials deemed it to be a fair challenge.
 
It was just one of those days for Swindon. The officials were very poor and inconsistent however Swindon only have themselves to blame. Despite having the majority of possession they struggled to create. At times they looked lethargic and scared to take players on instead preferring the safer option of passing it back. It was almost as if the Swindon players were playing in cement. However fair play to Forest Green they defended well and scored with their only 2 shots on target.
 
Swindon will now travel to Oldham next weekend where they will hope to quickly bounce back from this defeat. 

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