SWINDON TOWN 3

STEVENAGE 2

I believe the last Swindon player to score three goals on his football league debut was Maurice Owen in 1947, but we came close to seeing a repeat of this feat on Tuesday night against Stevenage, writes Peter Mitchell.

Sol Pryce, 18, had a dream start when he scored after just 18 seconds, surely one of the quickest Town goals ever, and then showed impressive coolness when netting his second during first-half injury time. He was also the 1,000th player to make his senior debut for Swindon.

Statistics aside, the first half performance from Swindon was superb and their two-goal half-time lead was indicative of their quick, slick play and total dominance. Their only blip came on 14 minutes, when they left former player, Scott Cuthbert, free at the far post to head home in the visitor’s first real attack. In between Pryce’s brace, another youngster, Scott Twine, also having a fine game, smacked the ball home after Matt Taylor’s free kick had been parried by the Stevenage keeper.

Unfortunately, the second half was a different story. Stevenage came out fired up and showing how they had beaten the league leaders last weekend. They pressed continuously and were a constant threat. Swindon were unable to find their previous rhythm and were mainly confined to counter attacks. Nevertheless, Town’s attack was still working well together and carved out a number of good opportunities. Michael Doughty, Kyle Knowle, and Ellis Iandolo in particular, had excellent games.

The visitors’ pressure finally told after 78 minutes when they grabbed their second, and from then on it was a case of Swindon hanging on grimly to get their first back-to-back league wins this season, that moves them back into the top half of the table.

The future already looks brighter under the new management team of Richie Wellens and Noel Hunt, and a win on Sunday against Woking in the FA Cup would be a very welcome bonus.