Swindon 2 Rotherham 3

Last updated : 19 February 2006 By Tim
It was a very good attendance figure with 7,518 packing into the County Ground, and with less than 500 away fans this was the most home fans at the County Ground so far this season after a promotion where season ticket holders could bring along a friend for £5.

Swindon started fairly well, and could have scored with Jamie Cureton coming close in the opening minutes.

Swindon took the lead on 20 minutes with Jamie Cureton scoring from close range after his was left unmarked following an Andy Nicholas cross.

Two minutes later Rotherham who are in financial trouble again equalised from close range is a goal just like Swindon had scored minutes earlier with a cross from Shaw finding Martin Butler unmarked, so he scored from close range giving Rhys Evans no chance in the Swindon goal.

Swindon were denied a penalty on 25 minutes and instead given a free kick on the edge of the box. Ricky Shakes free kick hit the wall, and the ball fell to Sean O'Hanlon who scored from close range to put Swindon back into the lead.

Then on 31 minutes Rotherham equalised again, making it 4 goals in 11 minutes with Shaun Barker scoring from close range with a header.

The game looked to be heading to a high scoring result with Jamie Cureton coming close twice in the final few minutes of the first half, but his shots went just over the bar. Both sides were clapped off at half time with the score standing at 2-2.

The second half was a lot worse for Swindon than the first half, but Andy Gurney did come close with a free kick which went just over.

However Rotherham took the lead on 49 minutes with Martin Butler scoring with a lob from the edge of the area. It looked like there would be a lot more goals, but this was the end of the scoring for both sides.

Albert Jarrett came on to replace Andy Gurney, and Christian Roberts came on to replace Ricky Shakes, and a few minutes later Michael Pook came on to replace Miglioranzi.

Swindon didn't have many more chances for the rest of the game with Cureton coming close a couple of times, but his shots were saved, so Rotherham were able to hang on for a rare away win.

Overall a goodish first half, but a poor second half. A draw would have been a fair result, but Rotherham took their three chances well after some poor Swindon defending. This defeat leaves Swindon in 19th place still just above the relegation zone going into Saturday's away game with Nottingham Forest where Swindon will be hoping to get their first double of the season after missing out against Rotherham.

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