Swindon Town

COUNTY Armagh made the perfect start to their 2015 Milk Cup campaign by defeating Swindon Town 3-1 at a cold and blustery Anderson’s Park.

It was the League One side who carved out the first opportunity of the match as a neat spell of possession between Luke Haines and Jayden Bogle allowed the former to shoot on goal but it was dragged just wide.

County Armagh began to grow in confidence with Barry McKeown having an effort saved by Louis Owens, before McKeown was expertly denied by the ‘keeper once again after neat play from Darragh Gray.

On 19 minutes, County Armagh had Tyler Boyce to thank as he tipped over Haines’ well hit free-kick, before they took the lead. The lively McKeown had the vision to pick out the run of Gray and he stroked the ball into the net, despite the best effort from Owens in the Swindon goal.

However, to their credit, Swindon Town replied soon after through an unstoppable 25-yard strike from Jayden Bogle which will be a contender for Goal of the Tournament. Soon after, Sol Pryce and Sahlin Abubakar combined down the right-hand side but the latter struck a shot wide of the far post.

Ten minutes into the second-half, Pat McGibbon’s men went in front as McKeown put pressure on Louis Owens and he dropped the ball which allowed Mark Lucas to score into an empty net. The County were putting in a strong performance and nearly went 3-1 ahead as John Lee McAfee crashed the crossbar following a great team move.

Swindon – who were very comfortable on the ball – nearly equalised late on as a deep corner was met by the head of Yordi Kaashoek but he headed over when well placed. As the English side chased an equaliser, they left gaps in the back and this was exploited by Armagh substitute Pablo Andrade but he failed to hit the target went sent clear through.

The three points were sealed on the stroke of full-time as Andrade found space but failed to score, with the ball landing at the feet of John Lee McAfee and he finished with aplomb to give the County a much deserved victory.