Match Report: Toothless Town taste defeat against Cheltenham

An Ethon Archer wonder strike sealed a deserved one goal Swindon defeat, in what was arguably Town’s poorest performance of the campaign.

After the jubilation of Saturday, Swindon were straight back to it with a return to league action. 

The visitors Cheltenham, like Town, won by a 4-goal margin last time out. After a tough start to the season Cheltenham had certainly picked up form under Steve Cotterill, despite being rooted to 22nd in the division.

Town made just the one change from the previous eleven with Finley Munroe coming in for Will Wright. Billy Bodin started, who as a 19-year-old was part of the last Swindon side to beat Cheltenham at the County Ground back in 2012.

It was the visitors who made the brighter start with Ripley being on hand to save from Hakeeb Adelakun in amongst a string of corners.

Following on from the elation of Saturday, the first 20 minutes of this contest could only be described as a come down.

Town were in particularly sloppy in a low-quality affair, Aaron Drinan had their first sight of goal with a low drive from range with 23 minutes gone.

The game, littered with individual errors, continued to prove difficult to watch. This was summed up in the 29th minute when Aaron Drinan, of all people, fired high and wide in a 1 v 1 against Joe Day. Midfielder Luke Young drew a good low save from Connor Ripley with a free kick just shy of the break.  

Both teams went in level at the break in what might be a competitor for one of the worst halves of football I’ve seen. As is the case with football and Swindon, it coincidently came just 3 days after one of the best games I’ve seen.

It felt like the sort of contest which would be defined by either a mistake or a piece of genius. When a clearance reached Ethon Archer in the 59th minute, absolutely nobody expected a venomous first-time volley from range, it was genius. Ripley, who was by far Town’s strongest performer, could do nothing but watch the ball ripple into the net for a deserved lead.

Any hope that the goal would nudge a lacklustre Swindon into life was extinguished across the rest of the match. Town were miles off the pace and bereft of ideas. A very poor Cheltenham side had caught Swindon on the right day, to extend their unbeaten run at the County Ground.