Bristol Rovers 2-3 Swindon Town
A Bristol Rovers side lost 2-3 to Swindon Town at the clubs training ground this afternoon.Several first team members started the game for Rovers including Will Puddy, Mark McChrystal, Ollie Clarke, Jake Gosling, Cristian Montano and Jermaine Easter.
Rovers started well as Jake Gosling picked up the ball after a poor clearance from his own corner before firing his shot into the arms of the Swindon keeper.
Minutes later Gosling was on the ball again, this time turning provider for Jamie Lucas who drove his header again into the arms of the goalkeeper.
Swindon were quiet in the opening exchanges until Jordan Stewart stung the palms of Will Puddy from inside the area forcing a good reaction save from the Rovers man who was only marking in his second appearance of the season since returning from injury.
However, it was Rovers who took the lead on 15 minutes as Jamie Lucas was played through onto goal but the striker opted for the unselfish option of drawing the goalkeeper off his line before squaring the ball to Jermaine Easter who just had to tap the ball into an empty net.
Just before the half hour mark Puddy was called into action again, this time the keeper denied Stewart's curled effort with a great save at full stretch.
The Robins did draw the game level moments later as Ellis Iandolo wriggled his way into the Rovers penalty area before lashing a powerful shot into the back of the net.
Rovers had several chances to take the lead again before half time. Initially a Jake Gosling corner was taken short to Jay Malpas who squared the ball to Cristian Montano on the edge of the area, but his shot went narrowly over the crossbar.
Jamie Lucas could have given the home side the lead just before the stroke of half time as he took a long throw from Danny Greenslade well on his chest before lashing a volley over the top of the goal from inside the Swindon area.
At the start of the second half Ryan Broom replaced Jay Malpas moving Jake Gosling in the centre midfield however it was the visitors who had the first chance of the half as Jordan Stewart was played through after a nice flowing move.
The Swindon frontman smashed his shot goalwards from the edge of the area which crashed into the back of the net off the underside of the crossbar but the linesman ruled the effort ruled out for offside.
Rovers continued to look dangerous from set pieces as Jake Gosling picked out Cristian Montano on the edge of the area again but his first time volley went just over the crossbar with the keeper rooted to the spot.
Moments later Marcus Stewart made five changes to the side with Olly Mehew, Blake Davies, George Corp, Tom Fry and Eliot Green replaceing Mark McChrystal, Ollie Clarke, Jake Gosling, Cristian Montano and Jermaine Easter in what was a successful outing for the members of the first team squad.
The substitutes seemingly changed the flow of the game for 10/15 minutes as Rovers tried to settle again but Tyler Lyttle stuck the crossbar after a nice move down the right hand side during this spell.
Swindon had a rare chance minutes later as Bradley Confrey was judged to have handled the ball just outside of the penalty area. The resulting free kick was taken direct but was just wide of the post with Will Puddy having it covered the whole way.
Marcus Stewart's side continued to press for their second goal but saw good efforts from George Corp and Ryan Broom fail to hit the back of the net.
However with just over 15 minutes of the game remaining Rovers took the lead for the second time as a superb passing move worked its way to Olly Mehew on the edge of the area who then picked out Blake Davies who smashed the ball past the goal keeper.
It looked as if Rovers were going to see out the game until a catastrophic final two minutes.
Initially Jordan Stewart's powerful strike from the edge of the area hit Bradley Confrey which wrong footed Will Puddy and flew into the back of the net making the game all square.
Seconds later Swindon took the lead with the last kick of the game as Ellis Iandolo was fouled in the penalty area giving the referee no choice but to point to the penalty spot.
Jordan Stewart stepped up for Swindon and drove his effort into the bottom right corner of the goal past Will Puddy who could only get his fingertips on the strike.
Rovers: Will Puddy; Tyler Lyttle, Bradley Confrey, Mark McChrystal (C) (Eliot Green - 56), Danny Greenslade; Jake Gosling (Tom Fry - 56), Jay Malpas (Ryan Broom - 46), Ollie Clarke (George Corp - 56), Cristian Montano (Blake Davies - 56), Jamie Lucas, Jermaine Easter (Olly Mehew - 56).
Unused Substitutes: Kieran Preston.