Match report: Swindon Town 1 - 2 Carlisle United

A match report from Swindon Link's STFC correspondent Alfie Howlett.

Swindon conceded further ground in the standings as Ryan Edmondson stole all three points for Carlisle with the last kick of the game.

After the high flying visitors took a deserved second half lead, Tyrese Shade levelled the scoreline to set up a captivating finale. However, with seconds on the clock a needless corner was conceded allowing Edmondson to capitalise.

In another crunch game against a top side, Swindon made three changes to the starting eleven. Both Reece Devine and Joe Tomlinson dropped out through injury and Dylan Kadji was forced to settle for a place on the bench. Jake Cain, Jacob Wakeling, and new edition Tom Brewitt came into the team. Meanwhile the visitors arrived in Wiltshire looking to continue their ongoing promotion push, coming off the back of three consecutive wins.

In truth the first half was as dull as dishwater, with neither side able to assert their authority on the contest. Swindon won the first corner of the meeting within 5 minutes, and from the resulting corner Jake Cain put in a strong challenge on halfway to deny a threatening Carlisle counter attack. Just past the half hour mark, Carlisle had the game's first notable highlight. An in-swinging free kick was firmly directed towards goal by Joe Garner, it was an attempt which Brynn claimed on the second attempt.

As the half grew deeper the Carlisle pressure intensified. Swindon found themselves penned inside their own half and perhaps they should've found themselves a goal down 3 minutes prior to the interval. A mighty goal mouth scramble saw The Cumbrians have several attempts on goal only for Town to block each effort and eventually clear their lines. Swindon then later responded with a half chance for Rushian Hepburn-Murphy.

A wicked deflection saw the ball fall into his path, however inside the box the forward was caught in two minds as he headed a looping ball wayward. It meant that both sides went in level at the break in what was a damning reflection of the lack of quality in League 2 football.

Six minutes into the second half the visitors opened the scoring. A Carlisle corner was initially headed against the cross bar from a Charlie Austin clearance. But from the rebound Jack Armer exquisitely smashed home a long range volley to give The Cumbrians a deserved lead. Minutes later Austin should've levelled preceedings when a McEachran free kick found the striker unmarked at the front post only for him to head wide from point blank range. Shy of the hour mark Carlisle nearly doubled their advantage when Owen Moxon was inches away from poking home a cross. 

In the final half an hour Swindon had some promising sights of goal. Starting with a central 19 yard McEachran free kick which saw Tomas Holy push the ball away. Then 12 minutes from time Jacob Wakeling was afforded space to cut in and let fly outside the box only to drag a tame effort wide. But Swindon would be rewarded for their endeavor two minutes later with an equaliser.

Substitute Tyrese Shade was on hand to strongly hold off Joel Senior allowing him to get to a deflected Lavinier shot. Shade then calmly poked home past Holy to set up an enticing conclusion. It seemed that as the seconds ticked by in the five minutes of injury time Carlisle were more than happy to settle for a point.

However, a short Swindon goal kick resulted in the visitors getting one last opportunity to attack the Town goal in the form of the corner. And they did just that as Owen Moxon's deep corner picked out the unmarked Edmondson who crept in to head past Brynn. It rounded up another disappointing afternoon at the County Ground.