Swindon Town picked up a point in their first group stage game of the EFL Trophy, but lost the penalty shoot-out for the opportunity of a bonus point.
Michael Flynn made a number of changes with the likes of Tariq Uwake, Benn Ward, Jake Cain, Harrison Minturn and Jacob Wakeling starting this evening.
Youngsters Jaxon Brown, Sonny Hart and Abu Kanu were also given the chance to impress from the start along with most recent signing Lewis Ward who started in goal for Town.
The first chance came five minutes in with Jacob Wakeling finding himself with inches of space down the right-hand side of the box and forcing Arsenal defender Ruell Walters to poke the ball into his net.
Almost immediately Town went ahead, and Arsenal's defence allowed Wakeling to make another smooth run, striking from a wide angle with the effort whistling past the top of the crossbar.
Despite this, Town lost possession and Arsenal responded with a rasping effort which saw Lino Sousa level up the scoreboard after a leaping header into the far corner.
The Gunners maintained applying pressure as a strong run by Lewis-Skelly saw Harrison Minturn block his goal-bound effort having taken the ball around the goalkeeper.
However, it was Town who regained their lead as Tariq Uwakwe stole the ball from Hein in the Arsenal Goal and chipped it in over the sliding defender on the line.
Arsenal had a late spell of pressure as they pushed to find an equaliser before the break, with a fantastic save from Ward but, left the goal open for Town’s Captain Liam Kinsella to clear off the line.
This opportunity ended what was a clinical first-half from Town as they looked to continue this in the second 45.
Half Time: Swindon 2 Arsenal U21s 1
The half started with a dominant Arsenal side which forced keeper Ward to make early saves to deny Sagoe Jr’s shot from close range.
Swindon had their best chance of the second half in the 64th minute, with a powerful run from Youngster Abu Kanu beating two Arsenal challenges but his shot deflected for a corner inches away from the goal.
Town were under pressure as the ball fell to Sagoe Jr taking on two defenders but could not level the lead as the shot was again cleared off the line by Minturn.
After a quiet 25 minutes, Arsenal found an equaliser and it was Jimi Gower who scored from close range, following a good run that fell to Lewis-Skelly to find him free inside the box.
Reaching the final minutes of added time, Arsenal found a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area but Hein makes a half clearance, but luckily for Town nothing came from it as the referee blew the whistle for full-time.
Straight to penalties and Jake Cain scored the first penalty of the shootout followed by Wakeling comfortably scoring the second.
Cozier-Duberry scored the second for Arsenal, with Shade responding with a cool penalty for Swindon.
Edwards made it three for The Gunners however Benn Ward for Swindon is denied by goalkeeper Hein putting them behind.
James Sweet made it a clean sweep for Arsenal, with Swindon left taking plenty of pride from their performance in the EFL Cup game.
Swindon's focus now switches back to League Two, as they prepare for Saturday’s game against Crawley Town back at the County Ground.
Swindon Town: L.Ward, B.Ward, Genesini, Cain, Uwakwe (Dworzak 66), Kinsella ©, Wakeling, Minturn, Brown (Shade 66), Hart, Kanu (Obodo 72)
Goals: Walters (OG) 6, Uwakwe 34
Subs not used: Brann, Hunt, Keyes, Adams
Arsenal U21s: Hein, Sweet, Monlouis ©, Sousa, Ibrahim (Gower 66), Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Cozier-Duberry, Sagoe JR (Flores 72), Butler-Oyedeji (Edwards 72)
Goals: Sousa 11 Gower 82
Subs not used: Ejeheri, Foran, Kamara, Rosiak
Referee: Lee Swabey
Attendance: 3352
