Swindon Town were knocked out of the FA Cup at the first round stage as Stockport County scored three first half goals and added another in the second period to end any chances of a lucrative run in the competition for Scott Lindsey’s charges.
There were just two changes to the starting eleven made by the First-Team Head Coach from their 5-2 thrashing of Mansfield in the league last weekend, with midfielder Ben Gladwin and defender Tom Clayton making way for Louis Reed and Mathieu Baudry.
Cian Harries and Reece Devine were named on the bench, with nine substitutions allowed for FA Cup fixtures.
The game wasn’t short of action in the opening five minutes as Saidou Khan earned himself a yellow card after just forty seconds as he followed through on Ollie Crankshaw just inside his own half, giving referee Marc Edwards no option but to take his name.
Moments later, neat interchange play by Dave Challinor’s side saw them create space inside the Town box with Crankshaw dragging a tame effort wide of the right post, although he was later adjudged to be offside in the buildup.
Two minutes on, Ronan Darcy sent a long range curler just wide of Ben Hinchcliffe’s right hand post after creating space for himself just outside the Stockport penalty area.
The on 11-minutes, the hosts broke the deadlock, as a clever spot from Akil Wright sent Antoni Sarcevic probing into the Swindon area, and he stayed composed to slot the ball past Sol Brynn with the outside of his right boot, finding the bottom left corner.
As we approached the 18-minute mark, a soft foul against Khan saw Stockport awarded a free-kick on the left.
Ryan Rydel swung in a dangerous cross which was met well at the back post by Chris Hussey, and Akil Wright - provider of County’s opener - rose highest to nod the ball past the diving Sol Brynn to double their advantage.
A minute later, Town left-back Ellis Iandolo looked to grab a quickfire response and silence the home crowd as he struck a powerful free-kick from 15-yards out that beat the wall, but could only find the side netting.
Things got worse for Town as they found themselves three down on the half hour mark, as Sol Brynn misjudged a corner from the right with the ball falling at the feet of Sarcevic, whose shot was deflected past the Town keeper and into the back of the net.
Three could have so easily have been four moments later, as Antoni Sarcevic missed the chance to grab his hat-trick as he was sent clear of the Town defence again inside the box, this time on the left, but his low effort aiming for the far right-hand post trickled narrowly wide.
Sol Brynn was then called into action twice in quick succession as we hit the 39-minute mark, first getting down well to push Connor Evans’ left-footed half-volley to safety, and then just a minute later, saving well with his feet from Ollie Crankshaw from a narrow angle on the right after he was able to find space.
The first period was brought to a close after three minutes of stoppage time by referee Marc Edwards, leaving Town with work to do in the second half.
Although Swindon made a more confident start to the next forty-five, chances were at a premium for Scott Lindsey’s side in the opening exchanges.
Both sides rang the changes early on, with Town introducing Ricky Aguiar for Saidou Khan and County bringing on James Brown.
And on 57-minutes, County netted a fourth to all but end Town’s hopes of a potential comeback, as Ryan Rydel struck a powerful, low, left-footed drive into the bottom right-hand corner, giving the diving Sol Brynn no chance.
A triple sub followed by Scott Lindsey as he looked to add some fresh legs and influence the remainder of the tie, as Morgan Roberts, Marcel Lavinier and Tyrese Shade came on, with Jonny Williams, Remeao Hutton and Jacob Wakeling sacrificed.
Stockport had the ball in the back of the net again on 63-minutes, as Ryan Rydel found himself with just Brynn to beat and slotted home neatly, but the goal was ruled out for offside, sparing Town’s blushes.
Cian Harries was also brought on by Scott Lindsey for some minutes as we reached the 70-minute mark, but still Town found it difficult to create any clear-cut opportunities.
Ronan Darcy looked to narrow the arrears with a probing run from midfield on 75-minutes, but under pressure, he was unable to generate any power on his long distance strike and it was easily gathered by Ben Hinchcliffe in the County goal.
The game fizzled out from thereon, with both sides seeing a fare share of the ball, with County happy to soak up any Town pressure in the remaining ten minutes.
Antoni Sarcevic struck a low free-kick under the Town wall on 89-minutes which Sol Brynn saved well, moments after Connor Jennings had sent him diving to his right from a curling effort from just outside the box.
Then as we headed into three minutes of stoppage time, substitute Kyle Wootton sent a low drive wide of Brynn’s post having been set free inside the area.
Moments later, Brynn saved well from a close range Akil Wright header, but that proved the end of the action and Town bow out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle.
MATCH STATS:
Stockport County Line-up: 3-5-2
1. Ben Hinchcliffe (GK) – 4. Akil Wright, 23. Chris Hussey, 31. Joe Lewis, 17. Ryan Rydel (21. Myles Hippolyte 65mins), 10. Antoni Sarcevic, 18. Ryan Croasdale © (14. Will Collar 66mins), 11. Oliver Crankshaw (29. Connor Jennings 80mins), 2. Macauley Southam-Hales (16. James Brown 51mins), 8. Callum Camps, 7. Connor Lemonheigh-Evans (19. Kyle Wootton 80mins).
Subs not used: 13. Bobby Jones (GK) – 15. Ryan Johnson, 6. Fraser Horsfall, 9. Paddy Madden.
Scorers: Sarcevic 11,29, Wright 16, Rydel 58
Yellow Cards: 16. Brown 79mins
Red Cards: None
Swindon Town Line-up: 4-3-3
1. Sol Brynn (GK) – 34. Ciaran Brennan, 3. Ellis Iandolo, 6. Mathieu Baudry (26. Cian Harries 67mins), 2. Remeao Hutton (22. Marcel Lavinier 60mins), 10. Ronan Darcy, 5. Louis Reed, 23. Saidou Khan (17. Ricky Aguiar 54mins), 8. Jonathan Williams © (33. Morgan Roberts 60mins), 24. Jacob Wakeling (28. Tyrese Shade 60mins), 15. Luke Jephcott.
Subs not used: 25. Conor Brann (GK) – 18. Reece Devine, 30. Mohammad Dabre, 9. Tomi Adeloye.
Scorers: None
Yellow Cards: 23. Khan 1min, 2. Hutton 29mins, 5. Reed 88mins.
Red Cards: None
Referee: Marc Edwards
Assistant Referees: Mark Jones & Andrew Aylott
Fourth Official: Gareth Thomas
Attendance: 4,534 (502 Town fans)
