Oldham - 1 (Barnard '68)
TOWN were held to a 1-1 draw by Oldham at The County Ground.
Adam Rooney notched for Swindon while the Town missed several chances to claim all three points.
Town made two changes to the starting line-up. Deadline day signings Massimo Luongo and Dean Parrett were included in the starting XI with the injured Tommy Miller missing out altogether and striker Adam Rooney dropping to the bench. He took his place alongside the third of Swindon’s deadline day signings, Nathan Byrne.
In a frantic opening quarter, Andy Williams was the first to try his luck from range. Parrett knocked down a lofted pass into the striker’s path and he took a touch out of his feet before lashing the ball wide of goal.
Simon Ferry and Massimo Luongo also went close with efforts that narrowly missed the woodwork. Parrett also fired wide before Roberts squandered arguably the best chance of the half. Williams’ shot was pushed into the winger’s path by Oldham’s Dean Bouzanis. As he came onto the ball under pressure from the defender, his effort struck the woodwork before rolling across goal and away to safety.
The pace and tempo exhibited in those first 15 minutes seemed to have a detrimental effect on the rest of the half as chances started to come at a premium.
At the start of the second half, Williams was played in by Luongo but could only curl wide after racing clear of the defender.
After the hour mark, Kevin MacDonald rang the chances with both Adam Rooney and James Collins entering the fray. Unfortunately for Town, it was the visitors who would draw first blood minutes later. Lee Croft’s low cross picked out Lee Barnard who turned the ball home from eight yards.
The goal seemed to re-invigorate the Town and two minutes later they were level. A cross from the right eventually came to Adam Rooney who, with his back to goal, launched into an overhead kick that beat the goalkeeper and found the bottom corner.
With their tails now up, Rooney almost scored again a minute later. He rose highest at a corner but could only direct his header wide of the goal. The chances for Town to win it didn’t stop there though. Rooney skewed over before Collins squandered a hat-trick of chances. Firstly he volleyed over from Parrett’s free kick. He then fired straight at Bounzanis after being played through one-on-one before he headed wide from another Parrett free-kick.
Swindon Town: Wes Foderingham; Nathan Thompson, Aden Flint, Darren Ward, Alan McCormack (capt); Massimo Luongo, Alan Navarro, Simon Ferry; Dean Parrett, Andy Williams, Gary Roberts
Substitutes: Leigh Bedwell (GK), Joe Devera, James Collins, Louis Thompson, Raffaele De Vita, Nathan Byrne, Adam Rooney
Oldham Athletic: Dean Bouzanis, Connor Brown, Jonathan Grounds, James Wesolowski (capt), Jean Yves M'voto, James Tarkowski, Lee Croft, Robbie Simpson, Lee Barnard, Jose Baxter, Korey Smith
Substitutes: Alex Cisak (GK), Chris Iwelumo, Christian Montano, Matt Smith, Jordan Obita, Cliff Byrne, Bobby Reid
