Swindon Town - 1 (Collins '1)
Bury - 0
SWINDON bounced back from their defeat in midweek by grinding out a 1-0 win at Bury.
James Collins scored the only goal of the game inside 30 seconds, notching his first league goal for the Robins in the process.
Paolo Di Canio rang the changes after Town’s home reverse to Colchester. In came Nathan Thompson, Aden Flint, Darren Ward, Simon Ferry and James Collins and out went Alan Navarro, Raffaele De Vita, Alan McCormack, Troy Archibald-Henville and Paul Benson.
Swindon made the perfect start to the game. With just over 25 seconds on the clock James Collins put them in front when he came onto Matt Ritchie’s through ball and fired across Trevor Carson into the far corner of the net.
Collins tried his luck again minutes later but could only skew his shot wide while Ritchie’s header was easily kept out by the goalkeeper.
At the other end, a chance presented itself for David Healy but Jay McEveley’s superb last-ditch challenged denied the Irishman.
Bessone also had his shot well blocked by a covering defender before Town might have done better with a quick counter-attack. Having anticipated a short free-kick routine, Ferry, Collins and McEveley burst away downfield. Receiving the ball from Ferry, McEveley could not pull the ball back for a red shirt and was hounded off the ball by a defender.
Early on in the second half, substitute Adam Rooney missed Ritchie’s intricate pass in front of goal and Collins brought down a high pass on his chest before lashing the ball over the crossbar.
Chances were few and far between in the second period and perhaps the best chance Town had to double their lead came just short of the 70 minute mark. A loose ball dropped to Rooney in the area and his snapshot was instinctively turned round the post by Carson.
There was still time for Rooney to blaze over the bar as Town held on to record another three points, bouncing back from their defeat to Colchester and move back up to fourth place in the League One table.
Town: Wes Foderingham; Nathan Thompson, Darren Ward, Aden Flint, Jay McEveley; Matt Ritchie, Tommy Miller (C), Simon Ferry, Federico Bessone; James Collins, Andy Williams
Subs: Leigh Bedwell, Troy Archibald-Henville, Joe Devera, Alan Navarro, John Bostock, Adam Rooney, Paul Benson
Bury: Trevor Carson, Joe Skarz, Adam Lockwood, Peter Sweeney, Steven Schumacher (C), Marcus Marshall, Mark Carrington, Mark Hughes, David Healy, Tom Hopper, Matt Doherty
Subs: Shane Byrne, Craig Jones, Lateef Elford-Alliyu, Efetobore Sodje, Mark Cullen, Andrai Jones, Cameron Belford
