Forest Green 2

Swindon Town 2

Forest Green captain Joseph Mills gabbed a 95th minute goal to salvage a point in a compelling west country derby against table-topping Swindon Town.

Earlier, prolific striker Eoin Doyle scored for the 10th consecutive game as his brace put Swindon in pole position. The Bradford City loanee made it 21 goals in twenty games as Swindon looked certain to post their ninth win in a row.

Doyle opened his account in the 16th minute with a hooked finish inside the box from a drilled Rob Hunt cross. And Doyle was at it again on 35 minutes - beating Rovers’ offside trap to apply a simple finish beyond exposed goalkeeper Adam Smith.

Rovers got themselves back into the game on 55 minutes – Swindon-born Joseph Mills stabbing over the line from a Liam Shephard cross.

Doyle was denied his third on 70 minutes as he dinked the ball over Smith, but the recovering Liam Kitching scampered back to clear off the line after Keshi Anderson carved Rovers open.

Deep into stoppage-time and with keeper Smith up for the corner, Joseph Mills grabbed his second, as the ball dropped to him in the box.

Earlier Swindon took the lead in the 16th minute – Rob Hunt arrowed a fizzing cross low into the box for Doyle to finish with unnerving aplomb.

With Rovers huffing and puffing, head coach Mark Cooper came down from his perch upstairs to take his place in the technical area with 30 minutes of the game gone. Five minutes later and Cooper was chucking his water cup down as Doyle beat Rovers’ offside trap to apply a simple finish beyond the exposed Adam Smith.

A tepid opening 10 minutes offered little to suggest this was a top of the table clash, which was punctuated by Mathieu Baudry’s booking for clipping jet-healed Forest Green winger Elliott Frear.

Despite the pedestrian nature of the game, Swindon started to go through the gears as Rovers struggled to find a foothold.

Swindon took the lead in the 16th minute – Rob Hunt arrowed a fizzing cross low into the box for hot-shot striker Doyle to finish with unnerving aplomb, rippling the back of the net.

With Rovers huffing and puffing, Cooper came down from his perch upstairs to take his place in the technical area with 30 minutes of the game gone. Five minutes later and Cooper was chucking his water cup down in reaction to Doyle beating Rovers’ offside trap to apply a simple finish beyond the exposed Adam Smith.

Deep into first-half stoppage-time a scintillating Swindon move involving Doyle, Kaiyne Woolery, Michael Doughty and Jerry Yates was ended by a last-gasp Udoka Godwin-Malife block to spare Rovers’ blushes.

Cooper hooked striker Matty Stevens at the break for Bristol City loanee James Morton.

And Morton was quickly into his stride - his sumptuous pass opened Swindon up for Joseph Mills to pick out Liam Shephard, who induced a sprawling save from Steven Benda.

Rovers got themselves back into the game on 55 minutes – Joseph Mills stabbing over the line from a Shephard cross for his seventh goal of the season.

Rovers had their tails up, but Swindon remained a threat – Smith scrambling across his goal to glove a Kaiyne Woolery free-kick away with 25 minutes to go.

Doyle was denied his third on 70 minutes as he dinked the ball over Smith, but the recovering Liam Kitching scampered back to clear off the line after Keshi Anderson opened Rovers up.

Joseph Mills almost snatched late parity as Benda almost allowed his stinger to squirm in.

Deep into stoppage-time a corner from Shephard was flicked on by Ebou Adams and the roof came off the New Lawn as Joseph Mills smashed in the free ball.

Forest Green Rovers: Smith, Godwin-Malife, M. Mills, Kitching (McGinley 76), J Mills, Winchester, Adams, Shephard, Stevens (Morton 45), Aitchison, Frear (Collins 75)

Bookings: Winchester 75

Star Man: Joseph Mills

Swindon Town: Benda, Fryers, Baudry ,Yates, Doughty (Rose 76), Woolery, Hunt, Doyle, Anderson (Jaiyesimi 90), Caddis, Grant

Bookings: Baudy 9

Referee: Robert Lewis

Attendance: 4,216

Swindon fans: 1,226

Next up: Forest Green travel to Graham Westley’s Stevenage on Boxing Day.