Swindon Town

TWO of Town’s second-half substitutes made the perfect impact as they came off the bench to earn Swindon a 2-2 draw at Bury.

2-0 down early on in the second half, Fabien Robert netted his first goal in Town colours before Anton Rodgers’ stunning free-kick late on earned the visitors a point.

Mark Cooper made one change to the starting line-up at Gigg Lane. Michael Smith was included in the matchday squad for the first time this season and started up front alongside Jon Obika. Fabien Robert dropped to the bench.

Just four minutes into the game, Tom Pope headed the home side in front. A cross from full-back Joe Riley picked out the towering frontman and he rose high above the Town defence before planting a header across goal and into the far corner.

Just seconds later, it could and perhaps should have been 2-0. Leon Clarke barrelled his way through on goal however, one-on-one with Vigouroux, he could only lift his effort wide of the far post.

Clarke spurned an even better opportunity 15 minutes later when he was brought down in the box by Lawrence Vigouroux. The former Town man picked himself up but struck his penalty against the foot of the upright.

Chris Hussey fired a free-kick over the bar before Vigouroux stood up to deny Clarke one-on-one.

Town’s best half-chances came courtesy of Jon Obika who first saw a shot cleared away then a header from a corner hacked clear.

Vigouroux had to be alert to push away Hussey’s goal-bound free-kick and was on hand to make a number of routine saves after Pope had won headers in the box and directed them goalwards.

Just before the break, Clarke span away from Turnbull on the halfway line and sped away down the right. Had his pass met the waiting Pope in the box, the striker would have had the simplest of tasks in doubling the home side’s lead but good tracking back from Rapha Branco enabled him to cut out the cross.

Despite a positive start to the second half from the visitors, it was Bury who would double their lead with the first real opportunity of the second half. Town could only clear a cross as far as Danny Mayor on the edge of the ‘D’. He strode up to the loose ball and side-footed a first-time, curling effort into the far corner beyond the diving Vigouroux.

As Town probed for a way back into the game, Kevin Stewart won the ball in midfield and when his eventual cross was cleared, it came to Nathan Thompson some 20 yards from goal but the Town skipper’s shot sailed over the crossbar.

With fifteen minutes to play, Fabien Robert handed Town a lifeline. The substitute gathered Yaser Kasim’s pass inside the box and adjusted his feet before steering the ball into the far corner of the net.

Shortly afterwards, Swindon levelled matters through another substitute. Anton Rodgers stepped up to a free-kick 20 yards out and curled a wonderful effort into the top corner of the net to earn Town a share of the spoils.