Last second leveller sees Swindon Town draw with Colchester United

Charlie Austin fired home a first-half penalty before Tom Brewitt doubled their advantage but Colchester retained their hope of a comeback as Matt Jay headed home in stoppage time.

The U’s controlled large parts of the second period and after failing to create many chances and Swindon seemed to have got over the line before the ball fell to debutant Conor Wilkinson to level the scores in stoppage time.

By virtue of many teams not being in action this weekend, Swindon remain in 15th place in League Two but are still 16 points clear of the drop zone.

Michael Flynn made two enforced changes to his line-up for the visit of Colchester as Brewitt returned to the team after a late injury kept him out on New Year’s Day and Jake Cain also came in for his first start since September. New signing Dawson Devoy was not registered in time to have any involvement, but Ricky Aguiar was back into the matchday 18 after returning from his loan at Worthing.

Kokolo with the ball at his feet (Image: Andy Crook)

Swindon started the game with more of the ball, but Colchester’s forward quartet of Jay, Noah Chilvers, Jayden Fevrier, and Tom Hopper were doing a good job of keeping them penned in and preventing them from having options to pass forward.

The first time they were really able to break through this came as Udoka Godwin-Malife and Tyrese Shade exchanged passes to break through and the defender slipped Tyrese Shade in down the side. He drove towards the box and cut it back for Jake Cain, but he got under the ball and sent his shot well over the top.

Again it was Shade helping to cause the danger as Remeao Hutton clipped a free-kick down the line for him to chase after. He burst beyond the defenders and looked to shoot from a tight angle, forcing Owen Goodman to palm the shot behind.

Austin fires home from the spot (Image: Callum Knowles)

After 17 minutes Swindon had a golden chance as Godwin-Malife was pulled down in the box by Marley Marshall-Miranda following a corner and the referee did not hesitate to point at the spot. Charlie Austin stepped up and blasted his shot up the middle and saw the netting bulge as the ball slammed into it.

Colchester nearly struck back as Hopper headed the ball down to Jay on the edge of the area and his volley whistled narrowly over the bar.

From the resulting goal kick Lewis Ward and Brewitt got in a mix-up and gave the ball away. After failing to clear a few times, Hopper had a close-range header that Ward had to claw out of the top corner to keep Town ahead.

Ward make a stunning save (Image: Andy Crook)

Just before the break, Swindon doubled their lead after Hutton found Austin with a cross. His 50p header bounced off the ground and into the path of Brewitt. He chested the ball down and after an agonisingly long wait for the ball to drop, roofed it from a yard out. The defender's first goal for the club.

But there was still time for another twist as in first-half stoppage, Colchester won a corner and played it short. A cross whipped into the near post area saw Jay make an unchallenged run and flick a header into the far corner of the net. Suddenly a lead that seemed comfortable had been cut in half.

Brewitt scores first Town goal (Image: Andy Crook)

Straight from the kick-off Austin managed to flick the ball nicely over the top and Shade ran onto it and struck low at goal from the right side of the box, causing Greenidge to spill his shot before being able to dive on it.

Three minutes into the second half a scramble in the Swindon area saw the ball fall to Jay in space. He fired a low shot beyond Ward but Liam Kinsella was on hand to slide in and block his shot on the line.

The Colchester pressure was mounting and they could have been level after an hour. Fevrier showed quick feet to get inside Williams Kokolo and then played a ball into Chilver in the area. He took the ball down but blasted it well over the top when he should have tested Ward.

Austin puts in a cross (Image: Andy Crook)

With the game coming into its final act it was the U’s that were doing most of the attacking and made a double switch up front that saw the large presence of John Akinde added to the mix. They were struggling to create openings but you felt as if that one chance would arrive for them.

In the 94th minute, Chilvers’ corner saw Ward fluff a punch and the ball landed at the feet of debutant Wilkinson to turn home the equaliser at the back post.

Colchester score stoppage time equaliser (Image: Andy Crook)

STFC starting XI: L. Ward, Hutton, Khan, Brewitt, Cain, Kokolo, Godwin-Malife, Kinsella, Shade, Minturn, Austin.

STFC substitutes: Evans, McEachran, Genesini, Dworzak, Aguiar, Hart, Obodo.

CUFC starting XI: Goodman, Iandolo, Hall, Dallison, Jay, Chilvers, Hopper, Mitchell, Read, Marshall-Miranda, Fevrier.

CUFC substitutes: Hornby, Greenbridge, Edwards, Wilkinson, Akinde, Kazeem, Ihionvien.

Attendance:  7,564 (329 away).