Swindon Town's first home game of the New Year ends in a 2-2 draw on Saturday afternoon.
Goals from Charlie Austin and Tom Brewitt would see Town nearly go into the lead at halftime before a goal from Matt Jay just before the whistle ended any hopes of a clean sheet before a last-minute goal for the away side made it a draw, and left both sides coming away with a point.
Town made three changes to the side that faced Crawley on New Year's Day, with defender Tom Brewitt able to return to the starting XI, midfielder Jake Cainr returned in place of Dan Kemp, and Williams Kokolo shifted back to his usual position on the left-hand side, with Tyrese Shade given the chance up front alongside captain Charlie Austin.
After a quiet opening 10 minutes, the first chance of the game came to Tyrese Shade as Jake Cain delivered a quality ball over the top from a free-kick, Shade struck the half-volley on the turn but only for it to be saved well by Colchester's Owen Goodman.
Only minutes later, Town would be awarded a penalty after defender Udoka Godwin-Malife was taken down in the box and of course, it would be captain Charlie Austin who would take, as he made no mistake with a powerful effort straight down the middle.
Colchester United would look to respond straight away after latching onto a loose ball that left Matt Jay one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but an outstanding recovery tackle from Tom Brewitt ended the initial danger before Tom Hopper’s header was saved acrobatically by Town's Lewis Ward.
After another long period of limited goal-mouth action, it was Swindon that extended their lead with an Austin header deflecting kindly into the path of Tom Brewitt whose close-range effort found the roof of the net with minutes left to play in the first half.
However, just before the half-time whistle blew, Colchester would get one back after a well-worked corner from the U's found Matt Jay at the front post who flicked a header past both onrushing defenders and the Swindon keeper Ward to find the far corner of the net.
Half-time: Swindon 2 Colchester 1
Colchester came out the more threatening of the two sides in the second half and tried to take advantage and find the equaliser with the dangerous Matt Jay’s shot, which looked destined for the bottom left-hand corner, however, Liam Kinsella provided an excellent piece of defending to clear the ball on the goal line, with Town looking to hold on.
Swindon found themselves defending well for the majority of the second half as they looked to see their narrow lead through to the end of the game, but unfortunately, with seconds left to play, Colchester found their equaliser.
With a late corner whipped in on the far side, it caused a goalmouth scramble which frustrating fell the way of recent Colchester substitute Conor Wilkinson, who backheeled the ball and despite the best efforts of Ward, (who almost made it back it time to stop it going over the line), Colchester had found their second goal.
This left Town players and fans alike frustrated with the final moments of the game as they look to bounce back with an away trip to Crewe Alexandra up next as Town look to turn their fortunes around going into the second half of the 23/24 season.
Swindon Town: L.Ward, Hutton, Khan, Brewitt, Cain (Aguiar 68), Kokolo, Godwin-Malife, Kinsella, Shade, Minturn, Austin (C) (McEachran 83)
Goals: Austin 18 (P), Brewitt 43
Subs not used: Evans, Genesini, Dworzak, Hart, Obodo
Colchester: Goodman, Iandolo, Hall (C), Dallison, Jay (Akinde 67), Chilvers, Hopper (Wilkinson 67), Mitchell (Edwards 76), Read, Marshall-Miranda (Ihionvien 83), Fevrier
Goals: Jay 45+1 Wilkinson (90+3)
Subs not used: Hornby, Greenidge, Kazeem
Referee: Richie Watkins
Attendance: 7,564 (329 away fans)
