Swindon were beaten 1-0 by Crewe Alexandra at Gresty Road as they failed to score for the second game in a row.
Charlie Kirk's effort was turned into the net by Joe Romanski midway through the first half despite Town’s dominance but as the game went on Crewe managed to dampen attack after attack with stubborn defensive work.
Ellis Iandolo almost salvaged a late point after coming on as a substitute as he roamed into the box and rolled a low effort which, two inches inside, would have been the equaliser.
Elijah Adebayo did manage to beat Crewe goalkeeper, Ben Garratt, but his effort was ruled out after the striker was adjudged to have handled the ball.
First Half
Luke McCormick was called into action early on by Kirk – after a chipped ball evaded the Town back four McCormick had to react quickly to get his body behind a stinging shot.
Town started to gain a foothold in the game after their early scare – some one-touch football in the centre circle set Steven Alzate free, he found Keshi Anderson who moved the ball onto his left foot and struck wide.
Town continued to move the ball well – Alzate, involved again, found Dunne who, once again, played to Anderson – this time his shot was tame and didn’t trouble Garratt.
On the half hour, Crewe struck. Charlie Kirk drilled a close-range shot towards goal – McCormick parried but as Joe Romanski tried to clear, he helped the ball in via the post.
Swindon continued in similar fashion despite going behind – Dunne found Marc Richards with a long, raking pass. His knock down was met by Anderson again – his touch took two Crewe defenders out of the game but Garratt was equal to his resulting shot.
Second Half
It was a scrappy opening to what had been a free-flowing game in the first half – 15 minutes of dogged football ensued.
With an hour played, Luke McCormick pulled off another excellent save to prevent a second. Town broke off of the save with the pairing of Dunne and Anderson continuing to cause Crewe problems Alzate had the ball laid off to him but his shot didn’t quite curl back far enough and went past the post.
The introduction of Ellis Iandolo gave Swindon a new wave of energy – and his influence almost got Town the equaliser. He weaved inside onto his left foot – he struck but couldn’t quite guide it inside the post. As the ball bounced away, Elijah Adebayo couldn’t stretch out a leg fast enough to turn in.
From then, Town’s best opportunities came from Iandolo’s set-pieces but Crewe, desperate for a result, were strong enough to blunt the efforts of Town.
